


Dream a Little Dream

by KatrinaKenyon



Category: Private Practice
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2012-05-13
Updated: 2013-01-23
Packaged: 2017-11-05 06:52:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 36,802
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/403603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KatrinaKenyon/pseuds/KatrinaKenyon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Violet is having some pretty inappropriate dreams about a certain Dr. King and at Oceanside Wellness gossip travels fast. Takes place in season 2.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Chapter One:**

_Violet was sprawled out on the bed panting as her lover continued to work magic on her body. Decidedly feminine hands traveled up the plane of her stomach to cup her breasts. A soft mouth worked much lower, devouring her. Her toes curled up in pleasure and her back arched up as she came. She fell back to earth as her lover crawled back up to deliver a smoldering kiss. She ran her fingers through long blonde locks. It occurred to her then that she didn’t know the identity of her mystery lover. She pulled back slightly to check and gasped._

_“Charlotte?!”_

_  
_

Violet rolled out of bed and landed on the floor with thud. Her eyes sprung open with horror. This could not be happening. She could not be having sex dreams about Charlotte, her mortal enemy. And she certainly couldn’t be having them for the third time this week.

I just got her out of my life and now she’s in my dreams.

The torrid affair between the blonde and her best friend had ended months ago. Cooper had finally gotten over her. In fact, he had a new girl friend, which meant that she no longer had to put up with him complaining about Charlotte every day. Unfortunately, she still had to see the prickly little blonde. There was no way to get around that. Charlotte was the director of Pacific Wellcare, which just so happened to be located a floor above their own practice. It annoyed her to no end that the blonde was always trying to steal patients away from Oceanside. Didn’t she have anything better to do with her time?

Violet sighed and picked herself up off the ground. She would need another cold shower this morning. She might not like Charlotte, but she couldn’t deny that the woman was attractive. She exuded sex appeal wherever she went. But seriously, she needed to stop having dreams about Charlotte, her arch nemesis, the source of all evil. This was just wrong in so many ways. Too bad it felt so good.

0oo0oo0

It was mid-morning and Violet was getting a refill on her coffee in the breakroom. She sipped slowly at the hot liquid, savoring every drop. She definitely needed to be caffeinated today. Even though she had a full night’s sleep, she felt like had run a marathon and then stayed up all night. She really needed to get some none sex dream sleep.

Addison chuckled at her as she made her way to the coffee maker.

“Late night, Violet?”

She rolled her eyes at the redhead. “No.”

“You look exhausted. Didn’t get much sleep last night?”

She opened her mouth to speak and then stopped. Addison arched a perfectly sculpted eyebrow at her in response.

“It’s just…” Violet and Addison weren’t extremely close, but they were at least friends and she couldn’t ever talk to Cooper about this particular problem. Violet was a talker. She just couldn’t keep a secret, couldn’t shut up. She solved all her problems by talking it out. The downside of being a therapist for a living.

“It’s just what?” Addison asked curiously.

“God, this is so embarrassing,” she muttered will scooting closer to Addison. “I’ve been having sex dreams.”

“Sex dreams,” the redhead repeated, clearly amused.

“Yes,” she hissed out, mortified.

“Everyone has sex dreams, Violet. It’s nothing to be embarrassed about.”

“It’s not just that.” She glanced around to see if anyone was looking before whispering, “They’re about Charlotte.”

“Charlotte,” the redhead sputtered. “Charlotte King?”

“Yeah.”

The redhead stared at her for a few moments and then began to laugh.

“It’s not funny.” Actually it kind of was, but she wasn’t about to admit that. “I shouldn’t have even said anything.” She turned to leave.

“Wait, wait. I’m sorry. I’m not laughing at you. I promise. It’s just funny because it’s Charlotte and she hates you and you hate her. And now you’re having wet dreams about her.”

“Yeah, yeah, it’s ridiculous.” She looked out of the breakroom and spotted her next patient waiting in the lobby. “Look, I gotta go. Don’t say anything about this to anyone.”

“Scout’s honor,” the redhead replied with a grin. Of course she would have to tell Naomi about this, but after that her lips were sealed.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte was over Cooper, but that didn’t mean she didn’t like to exact a little revenge and steal patients from Cooper and the rest of his annoying co-workers. It was the hour where most people would be taking off for lunch, but not her. Charlotte was a busy woman and didn’t have time for silly things like breaks or proper nutrition. She would cram down a lackluster sandwich, chug some water and be on her way.

At the moment she was waiting for that, admittedly hot, surfer boy to come back so she could get some files. Yeah, she was able to poach a patient today. She got her jollies where she could. She gazed disinterestedly around Oceanside Wellness. Addison and Naomi were chatting quietly in the breakroom, no doubt gossiping about the latest scandal happening at Oceanside. Drama was not in short supply at this practice. She couldn’t begin to express her disgust about that.

She perked up at the mention of her name. She knew she should just ignore them. She wasn’t exactly Miss popular with these people, but curiosity got the better of her.

“Sex dreams.” Naomi exclaimed.

“About Charlotte King,” Addison added.

“I cannot believe this. Violet is having sex dreams about Charlotte King. This is too good.”

The redhead chuckled and nodded. “Not a word to anyone.”

As an initial response Charlotte gaped. Violet Turner was one of the most detestable people on this planet. She loathed that woman. That curly haired nuisance was the reason why her relationship with Cooper had ended. She filed this piece of information away for later. Now she had something to torture Violet with. Okay, so maybe she was a little evil.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter Two:

Violet was running late. She had overslept and had thankfully just had normal dreams. She overslept because she had stayed up too late talking on the phone with Sheldon Wallace. He was one of the doctors that worked at the enemy practice, a therapist just like her. He was a little odd, but surprisingly good company. She had seen him in the elevators a few times, but she hadn’t really gotten to know him until a few weeks ago. She found talking to him to be easy and he was a funny guy. She loved guys who could make her laugh.

Last night he had asked her on a date and she said yes. She was feeling good about this. Her last relationship wasn’t so much a relationship as it was a fling. With Pete. So this date was going to be good because they could actually have a decent conversation and it wasn’t just about sex. Although, she wouldn’t mind if the night ended that way. Maybe she could finally put an end to these dreams.

She wasn’t late at all by the time she reached the practice. She was actually a little early. She really didn’t need to run that red light then. Whoops. She stepped into the elevator and just as the doors were about to slide close a hand shot out to intercept them. 

Charlotte King stepped in. She rolled her eyes at the blonde and stared at the floor.

“Mornin’ Turner.”

Her head shot up to stare at the blonde. This viper of a woman hadn’t said a civil word to her since Cooper dumped her.

“Uh huh,” she said 

A slow smile spread across Charlotte’s face. Violet didn’t like that one bit. “Just trying to be friendly.”

“Right.” She pushed the button for the fourth floor again. “Like Cruella can be friendly,” she muttered under her breath.

The smile turned into a scowl. “I heard that.”

The doors sprung open and she stepped out. “Yeah, I know,” she threw out behind her.  
Copper was going through his messages at the receptionist’s desk. She greeted him brightly and then went through her own messages. He looked back at the elevator and then at her.

“Okay, what did you do to piss her off?”

“Nothing.” He gave her a look. “She provoked me.”

“Uh, huh. What did she say?”

“Good morning?” She answered weakly.

“Really?”

“But she was smiling at me. It was weird and I’m sure she was just trying to annoy me. You know how she is.” She gestured helplessly with her hands.

“Yeah, I do and I think maybe she was just trying to be, oh I don’t know, polite. I’m sure it’s exhausting being evil all the time and even the wicked witch needs a break.”

“Since when are you on her side?”

He rolled his eyes. “I am not getting through to you, am I? I’m not on her side and she’s not out to get you Vi. I’ve moved on and I’m doing the mature thing and being civil to her.”

“Fine,” she huffed. Clearly Cooper was blind to the blonde’s demonic ways again. “Next time I’ll just say good morning.”

Cooper grinned boyishly. “Somehow I don’t believe you.”

0oo0oo0

Charlotte flipped through the forms again and grimaced. Sheldon wanted to hold a couples therapy group in her practice. Dear lord, that man could annoy her to no end. Admittedly, the group theory thing would bring in more money. The real problem was that he wanted a partner to help him with the sessions. A certain curly-haired nuisance from the fourth floor.

Like she didn’t see enough of that woman. She was still a little pissed about what Violet had called her in the elevator. She was just being nice. Okay, she wasn’t. She was just trying to get under Violet’s skin. But what if she was? Is that the kind of treatment she was going to get? Besides the Cooper thing, she hadn’t done anything to Violet to really deserve this treatment.

She looked at the forms again. If Sheldon wanted Violet then there was going to be some paper work to be had. She would actually have to put this woman on her payroll. For a couple of nights a week Violet would be in her practice, spreading her quack germs and glaring at her through her transparent office walls. On the plus side, she could always fire her.

She smiled at this thought. And there was always that fact that the Violet was having inappropriate dreams about her. She finally had some dirt on Violet and she planned on using it. Blackmail maybe? She did like having a certain degree of control over people. Or maybe she could get her to stop making up new nicknames. A few of them have managed to stick and she was sick of hearing her subordinates whisper Cruella around her. She especially hated that one. Or maybe she’ll just make the woman a laughingstock. 

She picked up the forms and headed down to Oceanside. She might as well get this over with. Unfortunately for her the therapist’s office was empty. She rolled her eyes and then sat down behind the oak desk. She shuffled through the papers in front of her. Nothing of interest.  
The only picture on the desk was one of Violet and Cooper in Disneyland. She scoffed and then flipped the frame down.

She leaned back in the chair, crossed her legs and undid a button on her blouse. She heard voices outside of the office and put on her most provocative smile. Let the torture begin.

0oo0oo0

Violet was having a good day. Sheldon had been texting her all morning about this couples therapy thing Charlotte had finally okayed. And he asked her to help do the sessions with him. She was a little giddy at the thought of him respecting her enough as a therapist to want to work with her. She comes off as a bit of an emotional mess, but apparently that doesn’t phase him. She sent out one last text before entering her office.

Of course Charlotte King just had to be there, sitting in her chair no less, and looking so…seductive. That’s definitely the word she would her use to describe Charlotte right now. She was smiling at her again and her blouse was…. Well, it was borderline indecent.

“See something you like, Turner?” The blonde drawled. Her eyes snapped up to meet amused green ones.

Violet blushed. Okay, this is bad. Be cool Violet. Pretend like nothing happened. Pretend like you haven’t been having wet dreams about her all week.

“Not likely and get out of my chair.” 

The blonde surprisingly did as she was told and sat in a chair on the other side of the desk. 

“Did you want something?” She looked down at her desk and put the picture frame back in its upright position. She glared at Charlotte and the blonde shrugged, not caring. 

“I’m sure Sheldon’s talked your ears off already, but do you want in on this couples therapy thing?”

“Yeah, of course.”

Charlotte gave a hum of approval. “Good. Let’s get this paperwork done. The sooner you’re on my payroll the sooner we can start this nightmare.”

“Wait, I would be working for you?”

Charlotte grinned. “For me, under me. Does it really matter?”

She opened her mouth and then closed it. This wasn’t a big deal. If she wanted to work with Sheldon this wasn’t a problem. 

“So, paperwork?”

Charlotte slid the stack of forms across her desk. The blonde didn’t leave. Apparently she was going to stay until the paperwork was done. She looked up a couple of times only to see the blonde smiling unsettlingly at her. When she signed her name on the dotted line it felt a little like she was selling her soul to the devil. Charlotte was probably loving this.

“All done. Here you go,” she said sliding the stack of forms back.

The blonde placed her hand on top of hers and leaned forward a bit, showing off her cleavage. “So, glad to have you on the team.”

Violet snatched her hand away. “Okay, what’s going on? You’ve been acting weird all day.”

“I don’t know what you’re going on about.”

“Yes, you do. You’ve been smiling at me and being nice and now you’re… you’re touching me?”

“What, I don’t do that enough in your dreams?”

Violet froze and her eyes widened in horror. How could she possibly know that? There was no why that she could have known that.

The blonde chuckled. “You better be careful who you tell your secrets to next time.”

“This isn’t happening.”

“Kinda seems like it. And by the way, I’m flattered. I had no idea you thought about me like that.” 

Violet blushed. “I-I don’t. Oh, god. Can we just forget about this?”

“Why? Afraid I’ll tell people?”

“You wouldn’t.”

The blonde smirked. “Wouldn’t I?”

“What do you want,” she asked almost desperately. She did not need to be the laughingstock of this building, especially not when Sheldon was in it.

“I don’t know. Maybe I just like making you sweat, Turner.”

“Charlotte, come on.”

“Fine, fine, don’t cry about it. When I think of something I’ll let you know.” And with that the blonde strode out of her office.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three: 

Charlotte wasn’t happy at all this morning. Her date last night was a disaster. She was finally over Cooper, but she wasn’t having any luck on the dating frontier. She was used to picking up people from the various dating websites that she was a part of for drinks and hot sex, but after experiencing a real relationship and seeing what she could have, this concept no longer thrilled her. On top of the lousy date, she now had to deal with this couples therapy thing happening in her practice.

From her office she could see the circle of chairs in her lobby. The session had ended and people where already heading out. She scowled at Violet and Sheldon laughing together over something. She didn’t like that one bit. Violet destroyed her relationship with Cooper. If she wasn’t happy, Violet didn’t get to be happy either, especially not with Sheldon. Violet may be working for her part time, but she was still part of the enemy practice and she would not have any of her employees fraternizing with the competition.

0oo0oo0

Violet thought the session had gone well. With a few more sessions they would really be able to help these couples, maybe save some marriages. She really liked working with Sheldon. With his patients he was confident and spoke with conviction, but around her he was shy and goofy. She sort of liked having that affect on him.

“So, still on for our date Friday?” Sheldon asked after the last couple left.

She grinned. “Of course. I can’t wait.”

His smile matched hers. “Me either.”

A voice rang out, calling to Violet and ruining their moment. She rolled her eyes when she recognized that it was Charlotte’s distinctive southern twang calling her name. She shrugged an apology to Sheldon and strode over to the director’s office. The blonde was sitting behind her steel and glass desk looking particularly smug about something. 

“What do you want, Charlotte.”

“Now is that any way to talk to your boss?”

Violet crossed her arms and looked off to the side. She wasn’t in the mood to play games. “Did you call me in here for a reason?”

The blonde grinned at her. It was the kind of grin the cat gave the canary just before it devoured the bird. “I need coffee.”

“You called me in here because you want coffee? It’s right outside your office in the lobby.”

Charlotte rolled her eyes. “No, I want Starbucks. Grande coffee, cream, no sugar.”

“That’s ridiculous. I’m not doing that.”

She turned to leave.

“So am I on top in these dreams, because I bet that’s something Sheldon would love to hear about.”

“Coffee? That’s really what you want?”

“Among other things. I’m going to milk this for all it’s worth, Turner.”

“I really don’t like you.”

“Good, then we’re on the same page.”

She glared at the blonde one last time and left.

0oo0oo0

“Oh, that’s gross. Who puts bacon on a cupcake?” Cooper exclaimed.

“The challenge is breakfast.” Violet said while stuffing another handful of popcorn into her mouth.

They were watching reruns of Cupcake Wars and pigging out on junk food. It was the best way to spend the night after being Charlotte’s coffee slave. After the episode finished Cooper turned to her with a sympathetic look on his face.

“So how is it working for Charlotte King?”

She rolled her eyes. “As well as can be expected.”

“If she isn’t treating you right, I can always go and talk to her.”

“That’s the last thing I need you to do.”

“Seriously,Vi, she really doesn’t like you.

She snorted. “Understatement of the year.”

He sighed and leaned back into the couch. “I never understood why you two just couldn’t get along.”

“Really? This is Charlotte King we’re talking about. The tiger, the source of all evil. She doesn’t like anyone and especially not me. First she hated me because I was your best friend now she hates me because she thinks I broke you two up.”

“You kind of did.”

“You were going to find out about her secret practice anyways. And by then you would have been way more hurt. You’re my best friend Coop. It’s my job to protect you.”

He grinned at her and leaned in to kiss her on the forehead. “You’re my best friend too. So, tell me about Sheldon.”

She smiled shyly. “We’re going out for drinks on Friday. Just a nice, easy, no pressure date.” 

After Cooper left she went straight to bed. She was exhausted. Couples therapy was fun, but it was a lot of extra work. She was about to drift off to sleep when her cell phone beeped. She groaned and blindly reached for her cell.

“This better be an emergency.” She looked down to see a text from an unknown number.

*So here’s the deal. If you don’t want people to know you’re having wet dreams about me, you will get me coffee every morning. I want a chai tea latte on my desk by 6:30am*

Of course. It was Charlotte.

*Vi: Fine. You do know that its 11:30pm, right? *

*Some of us are still at work*

*Vi: Has anyone ever told you that you’re a workaholic?*

*Has anyone ever told you that you’re annoying*

She rolled her eyes.*Good night Charlotte.*

*Sweet dreams, Turner ;)*

0oo0oo0

Violet woke up at 5:30am for the second day in a row. The only thing worse than waking up this early was seeing the blonde’s smirking face when she delivered her latte. The line for Starbucks was long this morning. She looked over at the pastry display case. Maybe she could fatten Charlotte up with croissants or something. Make her less attractive. No, that was a bad idea. In all honesty she thought the woman could do with a few more pounds. She had to admit that as much as she hated Charlotte she at least had to admire her for her work ethic. She put 100 percent into everything she did, which meant ignoring basic nutrition.

She purchased the latte with a danish for the blonde and muffin for herself. The blonde raised a perfectly arched eyebrow at her when she deposited the latte and danish on her desk.

“What is that?” Charlotte asked while gesturing at the pastry.

“It’s a danish.”

“I know that. Why is it on my desk?”

“Because breakfast should include food that isn’t liquid. Man cannot survive on coffee alone,” she said sagely.

The blonde tried to hide her smile. “Uh, huh. Well, thanks.”

Maybe there was some good in Charlotte.

“So Turner, tell me more about these dreams. Still having them?”

And it looks like she spoke too soon. She tried to prevent the blush that would inevitably appear, but when it did a predatory smile blossomed across the blonde’s face.

“Well isn’t that nice. So what is it we do in these dreams exactly? Bondage? Role play? I’m a fan of both.”

If it was possible her blush grew even deeper. It’s not like she was a prude. She was a therapist for god’s sakes. She talked about intimacy on a daily bases. 

The blonde seemed to be waiting for some sort of response.

She ran a hand through her curls nervously. “No, nothing like that.”

“How disappointing,” the blonde drawled. “So you bat for both teams, huh?”

“Not recently. Alright, you got your coffee now I’m going.”

On her way out she ran into Sheldon. He looked surprised that she was coming out of his boss’s office again. He always came to work early and yesterday he had noticed Violet going into the office with coffee and then leaving a few minutes later empty handed. It was no secret that Violet and Charlotte hated each other. He was curious about what was going on. 

“Is everything okay, Violet?”

“Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”

He nodded his head towards the blonde’s office. “I noticed that you brought her coffee yesterday.”

“Oh, that. I figured I better make nice since she’s my new boss,” she lied. “I thought it might be a good thing to do if I want to keep doing these sessions.”

“Good thinking.”

0oo0oo0

Charlotte watched the exchange between Violet and Sheldon outside her office. She scoffed. Everyone always sympathized with Violet. Poor helpless Violet. Everyone always sided with her, especially Cooper.

She took a bite out of her danish. As much as she hated to admit it she was grateful for the pastry. She thought about the new information she had learned from the curly-haired nuisance. She got a lot of joy out of making the therapist squirm and blush. She kind of liked having this affect on Violet. She was starting to wonder if Violet was actually attracted to her.

0oo0oo0

One Friday, the fourth day of this deal, Violet just couldn’t bring herself to get out of bed. She was exhausted. She didn’t know how Charlotte did it while working two jobs. Instead she closed her eyes and went back to sleep.

At 6:30am her cell phone rang. She groaned and reluctantly picked it up.

“Hello,” she said sleepily.

“I want my coffee, Turner. You know I’m not a morning person.”

“You’re not much of a day person either.”

“Cute. Now get out of bed and get me my coffee.”

Twenty minutes later Violet handed the prickly blonde her morning latte and pastry. She flopped into the chair in front of Charlotte’s desk and took a moment to study the woman in front of her.

“How do you do it?”

“How do I do what?” Charlotte asked only slightly annoyed.

“How do you work two jobs? Seriously, you’re the first here and last to leave.”

“I’m just a hard worker, if that’s not too difficult a concept for you to understand.”

“Right.” She looked the blonde over. Charlotte was impeccably dressed in a white blouse and a high-waisted navy blue pencil skirt. She allowed her eyes to linger on the blonde’s long legs. She could see why Cooper found her so appealing. When she looked back up, the blonde was smirking at her. She had been caught ogling the woman. Great.

“Well, Cruella, I better get going.” That certainly wiped the smirk of Charlotte’s face. And with that she was gone.


	4. Ch 4

They were fighting. She didn't know how it had come to this so quickly, but they were having a full on shouting match. It started off with something little. She didn't really remember what it was, but it annoyed her enough to snark back at Charlotte. Somehow, like always, it moved on to how she broke Charlotte and Cooper up and then she yelled something about the blonde being a bad girlfriend and just a shitty person overall. And then when the dog was down, she delivered her final blow.

"You're a bitch Charlotte, a cold hearted bitch. Cooper broke up with you because no one could love a monster like you."

The look on the blonde's face made her instantly regret it. She opened her mouth to apologize, but stopped. Charlotte's face went blank and her eyes looked dead. It was the most frightening thing she had ever seen.

"Get out," Charlotte said quietly. "Get out now."

She nodded and scurried out as quickly as she could. Her hands were shaking in the elevator. She might have gone too far this time. She only feared what Charlotte would do in retaliation.

0oo0oo0

Violet was right about one thing, Charlotte was planning her next attack. She was going to humiliate that woman. The only problem was she didn't have much dirt on the therapist. She couldn't go for her usual attacks, mocking her profession and her inability to get a man, but she did have those dreams and Violet's insecurity with her apparent bisexuality. She couldn't do that, could she? A plan quickly formed in her mind. She grinned and then grabbed her coat and purse.

0oo0oo0

Violet had opted to stay in for lunch today so the practice was pretty much empty except for her and Cooper. Usually they would eat lunch together, but couples therapy had really set her back on her paperwork. So here she was eating lunch at her desk and doing her paperwork quietly when the clicking of heels interrupted her silence. It was probably just Addison or Naomi. She was wrong.

"Turner," a certain southern blonde spat.

She looked up to see Charlotte standing in front of her holding a book. Oddly enough she didn't look mad.

"Saw this at the book store," she said while flinging it at Violet. "Thought you might enjoy it."

The book skid across her desk, sending papers flying. She picked it up and read the title, "The Joys of Lesbian Sex." A book of porn? She knew what Charlotte was doing, but she refused to believe it. Charlotte was mean, but she wasn't a bully.

"Guess we know why you can never hold on to a man," Charlotte continued.

Violet stood up with the book in her hand, holding it in front of her almost like a shield. The blonde walked over to her and then leaned in close enough for her lips to brush Violet's ear as she whispered to her.

"Don't you think you should tell Sheldon before you get in bed together and he finds out that you can't deliver quite what he wants?"

Her mouth opened and then closed. She was too shocked to respond. If this was the blonde's retaliation, it worked. She was hurt. She backed away from Charlotte until she hit the wall and couldn't go any further.

The blonde's lips curled up in satisfaction and then she left, victorious.

She took in a gasping breathe. She couldn't quite believe Charlotte would attack her like that. It was mean, it was hurtful, it was so many shades of wrong. Cooper walked in soon after Charlotte left. She hadn't moved an inch yet.

"Violet! Violet are you okay? You're crying." She hadn't even noticed. "Hey, what's wrong," he asked while wiping away the tears that had fallen.

Her lip trembled. "Charlotte…she…." She didn't even know how to explain what happened. She lifted the book up weakly for him to see. She hoped it would be explanation enough.

"What is this?" He looked at the book and then back at her with a question on his face. She shrugged. "Oh honey, come here." He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her in for a tight hug. She buried her face in his shirt. "I'm going to talk to her. Whatever it is she did to you. It will never happen again. I'll make sure she never comes near you again."

0oo0oo0

Cooper strode angrily towards Charlotte's office and slammed the door shut, startling the blonde in the process.

"I swear to god Charlotte, if you ever do anything like that again I will make your life hell. I don't know if this was some kind of sick way to get back at me, but you don't get to do that. You don't get to hurt Violet. She hasn't done anything to you."

"She-."

"Don't! I don't want to hear it. You stay away from her. Don't even talk to her unless its work related. When she comes to do her sessions here, you will be polite to her, you will be civil. I thought maybe you could be a decent person, Charlotte, but you can't. You're heartless."

"I…Cooper …."

He left then. Whatever sorry excuse she would come up with didn't matter.

0oo0oo0

Violet went through the motions of preparing for a date. She put on her black cocktail dress, styled her hair and applied her make-up. She just wasn't feeling up to it. Honestly, what she needed was a drink and some alone time. Fighting with Charlotte was exhausting. She hurt Charlotte and the blonde lashed out in return. She probably deserved Charlotte's retaliation. She shouldn't have said what she had said to the blonde.

She had been Charlotte's therapist once. She knew how fragile and insecure the blonde really was. Charlotte probably really did think no one could love her. She really shouldn't have done that. She wished that they could just stop arguing, that they could just stop hurting each other. It was so pointless.

She sighed and picked up her phone. She had to call this date off. Today just wasn't the day. After explaining to Sheldon that she wasn't feeling well he told her to feel better and agreed to take a rain check. Knowing how fast gossip spread, he probably heard something about what had happened.

She went to the Blue Moon Lounge. It was a more upscale place, but it had good drinks and it usually wasn't too loud or too crowded. It was a favorite hangout of the Oceanside doctors. She sat at the bar and ordered a dry martini, extra olives. She looked around the bar. She liked to people watch. There were a few tables of women talking and laughing, a few couples and a table of men who looked like they had just come out of some kind of corporate meeting.

The bartender placed her drink in front of her, breaking her concentration. She picked up the glass, sipped it and then ate all the olives. She went back to looking around the room, sipping at her drink as she did. The corporate table seemed to get a little rowdy and then they stopped and all looked towards the entrance of the bar. Curious, she turned and looked too.

She swore under her breath and then downed her drink as Charlotte King walked into the bar. She could understand why all the men had stopped and stared. The petite blonde looked gorgeous in her apple green dress and her impossibly high silver stilettos. Her hair was pulled up into a bun with a few loose tendrils of silky yellow hair framing her face. The blonde made eye contact with her for a second, but she looked away pretending she didn't see her.

She played with the olive toothpick until she felt someone take the barstool next to hers.

_Please, don't be Charlotte. Please don't be Charlotte._

She heard a sigh next to her. "Don't pretend you can't see me, Turner."

Clearly, it was her lucky day. "Hello Charlotte," she said without any enthusiasm.

The blonde studied her for a moment and then waved the bartender over. "I'll have a 7 and 7 and get her another martini."

She nodded in Charlotte's direction. "Thanks."

The drinks were set in front of them and Violet wasted no time in finishing her's. Charlotte didn't say anything, merely raised an eyebrow and went back to playing with the lemon wedge on her untouched drink.

After a couple of minutes of silence Charlotte spoke. "I'm sorry about… today. I shouldn't have gone that far. I wanted to hurt you, just not that much."

She appreciated the blonde's honesty. She knew she shouldn't forgive Charlotte so easily, but for some reason, maybe it was the two martinis, she didn't want to hate the blonde. And she really should because what Charlotte did was just cruel.

"It's okay," she found herself saying.

"It really isn't, but thanks."

"I'm sorry too, you know. I really am. You're not a monster."

"I wouldn't be too sure of that," the blonde drawled and then sipped at her drink.

"You have shitty people skills, but you're good doctor and you do all these community programs that you don't have to do and -." She stopped herself from rambling. "You're not a monster."

Charlotte chuckled. "You sure have a lot of opinions about me."

For some reason this made her blush. Maybe she was already a little tipsy.

"You want another one of these," Charlotte said pointing at her glass.

"I might need a lot of them."

The blonde bit back a smile. "Whatever you want."

She tried not to drink this martini too fast. She played with the olives hoping they would distract her for a moment. The blonde seemed content with watching her.

"Hey Charlotte?"

"Yeah?"

"About what you said about me being…um." She cleared her throat and started again. "You don't hate me more because I…bat for both teams, do you?"

"Of course not. I don't care what your sexuality is, but you do so…" She trailed off.

"Right." She downed her drink again. "I don't really care that much."

"Uh, huh," the blonde said unconvinced. She waved the bartender to get Violet another drink.

"Really, I don't. I just don't know how to explain it to Cooper."

"You haven't told Cooper," Charlotte asked, genuinely surprised.

"No, it's never exactly come up. And now you and your stupid book have just messed things up. We haven't talked about it yet, but now there's going to be some sort of awkward conversation about it in the near future. Thanks for that." Her last sentence came out a little slurred and she could tell that she was well on her way to being drunk.

She took a sip of her new martini and sighed. "I like martinis."

"I can see that." Amusement sparkled in Charlotte's eyes. The blonde paused and then, "Can I ask you something?"

She nodded, not really paying attention.

"Have you and Cooper ever…?"

A first she didn't understand what she was asking. She squinted her eyes and then she got it. "You want to know if me and Cooper ever slept together," she said a little horrified. The expression on her face must have been funny because the blonde was trying hard not to smile.

"Charlotte! No! Oh god, no. That would be too weird."

"Why not you guys are already perfect for each other?"

"No, he's Cooper. He's my best friend."

"He's also a good lay," Charlotte added, clearly enjoying the reactions she was getting out of the mildly intoxicated therapist.

She cringed. "Didn't want to know that. Seriously, I've just never seen him that way. Can we not talk about this anymore? It's creeping me out."

"Alright then, finish your martini. I'm taking you home."

Violet blushed and the blonde laughed.

"Not like that Turner. You're obviously too drunk to drive. Get your mind out of the gutter."

0oo0oo0

Charlotte had to admit that the curly-haired therapist was endlessly amusing when she was drunk. They actually got along. Imagine that. Charlotte brought Violet home as promised, took her to the kitchen where she was currently watching the therapist drink a glass of water in the dark.

"Come on, Turner, finish up," she said when Violet had suddenly lowered her glass.

Violet blinked and then raised the glass to her lips again.

Charlotte leaned against the counter and looked around at the moonlight kitchen. She couldn't make out too much only that it was spacious and homey. Her eyes returned to Violet. The intoxicated therapist had stopped drinking again and was staring out the window behind her. She took a moment to look at Violet.

The therapist was dressed in a sleek black number. Her strappy black heels had been abandoned by the front door. Her normally riotous curls had been tamed and were tumbling down her back. In Charlotte's opinion, the woman was beautiful, which was exactly why she hadn't liked Cooper spending so much time with the therapist. Men were easily distracted. Their eyes wandered and Violet could be that distraction.

Her eyes finally drifted up to Violet's grey eyes. The therapist held her gaze.

"You're pretty," Violet said, breaking the moment.

Charlotte walked over and took the now empty glass away from her. "And you're drunk."

Violet grinned. "I know. But I think you're beautiful… even when I'm not drunk." The therapist blushed and immediately looked away from her.

Charlotte chuckled. "Alright Casanova, let's get you to bed."

Charlotte helped Violet safely navigate the stairs and get into her bedroom. She flipped on the light, but the therapist groaned in protest from the bed she had collapsed in. She turned off the lights, but not before noticing that everything in the room was the color purple. She shook her head. Of course Violet would have a violet bedroom.

"Hey, Charlotte," Violet mumbled, bringing her out of her musings.

"Yes."

"I think…."

"You think?"

"I think we should just forget about what happened today. Go back to the way things were?"

"Back to the bickering and being my coffee lackey?"

"Coffee lackey?"

"Uh, huh. Don't think I'm nice now, just 'cause I helped you out tonight."

There was a long pause and then, "Bitch."

Charlotte laughed hard at this. She tried to catch her breath so she could respond. "Absolutely. What else would I be?"

The therapist responded by throwing a pillow at her or trying to. It ended up flying in the opposite direction.

"You nearly got me there," she said dryly.

She picked up the pillow and put it back on the bed. For a few moments she watched Violet lie there with her eyes closed. Somehow between this morning and now she had stopped hating Violet. That didn't mean they were friends or that she liked the woman. It just meant that she could now stand being in the same room as Violet. And that was something.

"Do you want to sleep?"

"Mmm hmm," Violet said sleepily. "Can you get my pajamas? Dresser. Top drawer."

Charlotte retrieved her sleepwear, shorts and an oversized sleeping shirt, while Violet tried to sit up again. She watched with amusement as Violet tried to unzip her dress. She lacked the coordination and was quickly becoming frustrated.

"Here, let me. Stand up."

Violet stood obediently before her. She brushed soft curls out of the way and pulled the zipper down. Fabric parted, revealing the most curious thing, a tattoo on the therapist's left shoulder. She pushed the straps of the dress down Violet's shoulders to get a better look. It was a small black treble clef. She had no idea if the therapist was musical or not. She traced the treble clef with her finger and Violet shivered beneath her touch. She paused and then went back to unzipping. She stepped back and watched the dress fall from Violet's slim body to the floor.

The therapist quickly slipped on her pajamas, unaware of the green eyes tracking her every move, and crawled into bed.

"Sweet dreams, Violet." Charlotte pulled the covers up, knowing that the Violet would most likely forget this night and everything would go back to normal.


	5. Chapter 5

On Monday morning Violet woke up at 5:30am, went to Starbucks and got Charlotte her usual order. From what she remembered of that night, she knew that their agreement was still in effect. Charlotte was still the prickly little annoying woman she always was. Nice to see some things never changed. She was surprised that the blonde had talked to her at the bar at all, that is other than to insult her. She was even more surprised when the blonde covered her drinks for the night and then drove her home. She hoped she didn't embarrass herself too much.

She remembered being in the car and then asking the blonde if they could just forget about that horrible fight. After that it was a little blurry. She remembered Charlotte unzipping her dress and gently touching her back, but she wasn't sure if that was real or another one of her sex dreams.

She waited for the elevator to come impatiently. All she wanted to do was give Charlotte her coffee as quickly as she could and leave. She had a feeling that despite whatever went on that night Charlotte would be just as grouchy as she usually was, if not more.

She quickly strode to the blonde's office and deposited her breakfast on the desk before looking up.

"Morning Char-." She stopped when she noticed that they weren't alone. In the chair opposite Charlotte's sat a tall blonde man who bore remarkable resemblance to Charlotte.

Charlotte's eyes widened slightly in panic. "Violet. Morning." The blonde stood up to greet her. "Sorry, I should have texted you this morning. My brother is in town on business and decided to drop by for a surprise visit. Violet, this is my brother Landry."

Violet went to shake his hand.

"And this is Dr. Violet Turner, my…friend."

Landry chuckled and went back to his seat. "My baby sister has friends?"

Charlotte scowled. "Of course I have friends. In fact, Violet's my best friend."

Violet froze. Did she really just say that?

"Oh, is that right?" Landry challenged.

Charlotte looked at her with pleading green eyes. This was a new look for her. She figured she could probably get out of being the blonde's coffee lackey by doing this.

"Yep," Violet agreed. "Best friends. You know we usually have coffee together every morning, but since you're here, I'll leave you two alone. It was nice meeting you."

"Wait," Landry called out before she could get away. "Charlotte and I are going out for dinner tonight. Why don't you join us? I would love to get to know Charlotte's best friend."

"Uh…." She looked back at Charlotte who wasn't giving her any indication of what she should do. "Sure. Thanks. That would be great. I'll see you guys later then."

She escaped to Oceanside, grateful to get away from whatever the hell just happened upstairs. It's one thing to pretend to be friends, but it's an entirely different thing to pretend to be best friends with your mortal enemy. How were they going to pull this off? And more importantly, why did she care?

Cooper was waiting for her in her office. He had given her space this weekend and refrained from calling her, which was nice, but now she was in for an awkward conversation. The perfect way to start off your day. Cooper was sitting on her couch with the book in his hands. She forgot that she left that here. Great.

"Hey, Vi," he said patting the cushion next to him. "How are you doing?"

"Hey Coop. I'm fine. How was your weekend?"

"It was good." He paused. "You didn't exactly tell me what happened between you and Charlotte last Friday and I just wanted you to know…." He fidgeted with the book for a moment. "That whatever you're going through-." He stopped and started over again "What I mean is that there's nothing wrong with…."

"Coop, just say it."

"I don't care that you're gay. It's fine. I love you and I support you always and I'm sure everyone else at the practice agrees. And what Charlotte did was just wrong. It was bullying and I made sure that she won't bother you again. Really Violet, you know you can tell me things and I won't ever judge. We're best friends."

"I'm not gay."

Cooper faltered. "You're not?"

"I'm bisexual, actually. And this isn't a new development. I just haven't told you. I just…I don't know. I guess I didn't know how to tell you. I don't have a problem with it," she added.

"Okay. Well, I still love you even if you're half a lesbian."

She smiled at him. "Thanks Coop."

"No problem. So everything is good then? No struggles with your sexuality and self-loathing or any other crappy feelings?"

"No, not really. I don't have a problem with me, but I'm not crazy about knowing what other people would think if more people knew. I don't really like being judged."

Cooper put an arm around her. "No one's judging and if they are I'll beat them up for you."

She laughed. "Please don't."

"Alright fine. So, how did Charlotte find out anyways?"

"Oh, that." She didn't want to lie to him, but she also didn't want to die of embarrassment so she settled for halfway. "She caught me checking her out."

"You checked Charlotte out?" he said slowly. She wasn't sure if he was angry at her for checking out his ex-girlfriend, but then a lascivious grin spread across his face and she knew he definitely wasn't. "Seriously?"

"We may hate each other, but I'm not blind. She's hot. Really, really hot. Okay?"

His grin got even bigger and she knew exactly where his mind went to. "Do not imagine us having sex," she said while punching him in the shoulder.

"Alright, alright. I won't. Man, I love bisexual Violet," he said enthusiastically.

She rolled her eyes. "Of course you do. Oh, you should know that Charlotte has apologized to me. I mean really apologized to me. And I apologized to her too."

"You didn't need to do that."

"Yes, I did. I said some really mean things to her, Coop. I really shouldn't have said them and I regret it. But everything is okay now. Really. We have an understanding and we're just going to go back to passive-aggressively hating each other. So you don't have to declare war on her anymore."

"If that's what you want, Vi."

"Yeah, it is. Plus, I technically work for her now and I don't really want to give her a reason to fire me."

"She wouldn't do that."

She raised an eyebrow.

"Okay she would, but you bring in a lot of money and she likes making money. I think you'll be okay. So tell me about these other women you check out. Are they hot?

She laughed and leaned back into the cushions. That hadn't gone as badly as she thought it would.

0oo0oo0

"I'll pick you up tonight at six."

Violet started at the sound of the Charlotte's voice and dropped the file she had been holding. "Jesus, Charlotte! You scared me."

The blonde smirked. "Wear something nice. We're going to La Sirène."

Violet bent down to pick up the file and gather the papers that had slipped out, while the blonde just watched.

"Yeah, sure. Okay," she muttered unhappily.

"No need to be snippy."

Violet scoffed. "No need to be…. You're kidding me."

Charlotte followed her as she strode over to Dell at the receptionist's desk. She gave him the file and he gave her a strange look. Charlotte glared at him over her shoulder and Dell went back to his paperwork.

"Thanks, Dell," she said before heading back to her office. She was aware of how weird it was to have Charlotte King trailing behind her. She flopped down on her couch and looked over at the blonde.

"You told your brother that I was your best friend and now he invited me to this dinner that we're never going to be able to pull off. We know nothing about each other. He's going to know that you're lying."

Charlotte sat delicately on the edge of the armchair. "I'll just make up stuff about you and you can Google my name."

"Seriously? Can't you just bring one of your real friends instead?"

The blonde clenched her jaw and stayed silent.

Violet sighed. "Of course, you don't have any friends. Not when you have 101 dalmations to keep you company." She couldn't help it. She knew she was being a horrible person, but teasing the blonde just came naturally to her. After years of fighting and suffering through all of Charlotte's insults, it just happened automatically.

Charlotte stood up and glared menacingly at her. For being a tiny person, the blonde could be pretty scary.

"I am not Cruella," Charlotte growled.

She should really stop and apologize now. Be a good person. That would be the right thing to do.

"Are you sure about that? I thought I heard barking this morning." But who said she had to be a good person.

The blonde scowled and took a threatening step forward. She was a little afraid that the blonde would hit her.

"You little-." Charlotte didn't get to finish whatever disparaging thing she was going to say because at that moment Addison walked in.

"Hey, what's going on here?" The redhead asked, concerned.

Charlotte visibly relaxed and took a step back, away from Violet.

"We were just discussing a case Dr. Montgomery. And I have to go now." The blonde turned to leave. "Six o'clock, Turner."

Addison shut the door once Charlotte left and arched an eyebrow at Violet.

"What was that? What's going on at six?"

Violet smiled at the redhead nervously. "That was nothing. It's just work stuff. Really."

"If you say so." Addison said with suspicion creeping in her voice.

0oo0oo0

"Is anyone worried about Charlotte following Violet around?" Addison asked the breakroom collective.

Pete put his herbal tea down and Naomi turned from the fridge and gave the redhead her full attention.

"Wait, what," Pete asked.

"Dell said that Charlotte was talking to Violet today, but not arguing. And I saw Charlotte ready to kill Violet. I thought I was going to have to pull her off of Violet."

"That doesn't sound good," Pete commented. "They've been fighting a lot more lately. I wonder why?"

"I don't know. Do you think we should do something," Naomi asked

"We could cage Charlotte?" Pete joked.

Addison rolled her eyes. "Or we could make them work out their differences once and for all. Now that Charlotte's not dating Cooper there's no one to keep them in check."

"Yeah, this is bad," Naomi agreed.

0oo0oo0

The doorbell rang just as Violet was putting the finishing touches on her makeup. Charlotte had arrived exactly at six. Not a minute more. Not a minute less. She was more than a little anxious for dinner tonight. It was already going to be a train wreck, what with them pretending to be BFF's, but on top of that she had also managed to piss off Charlotte again.

She could kick herself for doing something so stupid, especially when the blonde was all vulnerable and possibly about to open up to her. She ruined her chances at not having Charlotte hate her guts. She tried to apologize via text message, but the blonde didn't respond.

She tied the sash on her bathrobe tighter and made her way down the stairs to open the door.

"Took you long enough," the blonde huffed, while passing her to get inside. Charlotte eyed her bathrobe and frowned. "Why aren't you dressed?"

"I was just about to. Just give me a minute."

Charlotte rolled her eyes and took a seat at her dining room table.

0oo0oo0

After the therapist had gone back upstairs Charlotte began to explore the house. The last time she had been here she hadn't had a chance to see anything and to be honest she was kind of curious about what kinds of things the curly-haired nuisance might have in her house.

The walls of the Spanish styled house were done in warms tones and the floors were a rich dark wood. It felt really comfy and homey. She traveled to what must have been the living room. Right away she spotted a piano tucked away in the corner. It was covered in sheet music and upon closer inspection she could see that the music notes were handwritten. The therapist composed her own music.

That explains the treble clef.

From the piano she moved over to the bookshelves occupying the back wall. There a couple of rows of classics and psychology texts, but the shelves were predominately filled with romance novels. She almost laughed aloud at this. The therapist did seem like she would be one of those sappy romantics.

0oo0oo0

Violet slipped on the silky midnight blue dress and then put on silver sandals. She grabbed her clutch purse and headed downstairs. She found the blonde in her living room looking at her embarrassingly large collection of romance novels. Charlotte definitely did not need to find out any more of her secrets.

While her presence went unnoticed by the blonde she took a moment to study her. Charlotte was petite and delicate, but had a fiery energy that radiated throughout her body. She was beautiful with her golden skin, her silky yellow hair and green eyes. It was no wonder she dreamed about the blonde. Tonight, Charlotte had decided to wear a burgundy colored strapless cocktail dress. She looked flawless like she always did.

The blonde finally noticed her and turned around with a smug look on her face. Charlotte had been aware of her staring.

"You look good," she offered weakly.

"I considered wearing my coat made of dalmation puppies, but it was too hot."

She chuckled. "You made a joke. You do have a sense of humor."

"Imagine that," the blonde said flatly. Charlotte turned back to the bookshelf, obviously not over the teasing that went on earlier today.

"Did you get my text?"

"I got it. I just didn't care for it."

"Oh." Violet stepped into the room, making a beeline to the piano in the corner. She had been working on a song over the weekend, throwing all the emotions of the week into it. It wasn't quite done yet. She ran her hand over a few keys and played a few notes.

"Okay," she said while sitting down on the bench. "So I shouldn't have made that joke when you were trying to tell me something serious."

The blonde crossed her arms and scowled. "I don't appreciate the name calling."

"Yeah, I get that. I, uh, I won't call you Cruella ever again, if that helps?"

"Or Tiger, or the Source of all Evil or whatever else you have." The blonde's green eyes were cold and hard. The nicknames must have hurt Charlotte a lot more than she let on.

"Okay, no more name calling. Done."

The blonde let out a breath of air. "Good."

She started to play the beginning of the song she was working on. Her fingers flew across the keys in a flurry of motion while Charlotte watched on silently. She frowned when she reached the part of that she had been having trouble with. For some reason she just could come up with the next part. It's like her inspiration just dried up and left the page blank. She played the last few measures again and stopped. Still nothing. She played those measures two more times before the blonde gently removed her hands away from the keyboard.

"Come on. We're going to be late."

"Oh. Yeah."

0oo0oo0

The restaurant was just as nice as she expected it to be. Elegant and understated with splashes of red in the décor. The wine was delicious, the food was great, but the company was surprisingly better. Landry was actually a pretty great guy. Smart, funny and easy on the eyes. She was pretty sure that they were flirting at one point.

Charlotte was another surprise. Outside of the hospital, the blonde was a completely different person. She smiled more, laughed more, and just seemed happy for once. The learned that the blonde had a dry sense of humor that sent her into fits of giggles. She was also learning a lot more about Charlotte's childhood. Lots of very funny stories.

She couldn't believe that they were actually pulling this off. As it turned out all those times Cooper had ranted about Charlotte had stuck and she knew just enough personal facts to get by. Charlotte narrowed her eyes suspiciously whenever she was able to answer something like what the blonde's favorite book was. Charlotte of course just made up stuff about her. None of it was too ridiculous, but still.

She grinned at a comic retelling of Charlotte's first pony ride. The blonde playfully punched her brother on the shoulder.

"I was not that bad. Besides I turned out to be an excellent rider."

"Okay, okay I'll give you that," Landry conceded. "Do you ride, Violet?"

"Me? Oh, no. I don't think I would fair too well on a horse."

He smiled charmingly at her. "I'm sure you'd be fine. Next time Char comes home, you should come with her. We have stables on our property. I could show you how to ride."

She giggled a little and then grinned. Oh yeah, definitely flirting. "Really?"

She felt a sharp pain in her shin and tried her best not to gasp aloud. She couldn't believe that Charlotte had kicked her. She looked over at the blonde was discreetly glaring at her.

Okay, message received. Flirting with the brother is not welcome.

Landry nodded his response and then refilled her glass with more wine. "So how did you guys become friends anyways? My baby sis is usually more of a loner. Not many people can handle her unique personality."

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Ha ha, very funny."

"Well, I can handle it. Before she became super doctor with two jobs my practice used to co-op with St. Ambrose. Nothing exciting."

"Just as well," Landry mock lamented.

There was a pause where Landry was just gazing at her and vice versa. She wondered how long he was in town for and she was about to ask when a heel clad foot ran up the length of her calf. She jumped a little in her seat and widened her eyes in surprise at the blonde. The blonde tapped her wrist signaling that she was ready to go. It was an extreme way to catch her attention, but it worked.

"It's getting a little late," she said.

"It is, isn't it?" He said reluctantly.

The meal was paid for and they made their way to the entrance where they waited for the valet drivers to get their cars.

"So, that was a good dinner sis. I've got a lot of meetings tomorrow, but later in the week we should meet up again? I know you're a busy, busy girl, but I like seeing my only baby sister."

"That sounds good. Give me a text when you're free and I'll try to make it work."

Landry turned to Violet, pulled a business card out of his jacket pocket and handed it to her. "It was really nice meeting you, Violet. I can't believe Char has a good friend like you."

"It was great meeting you too."

The valet driver came and handed them their keys. Landry hugged his sister goodbye and then hugged her and kissed her cheek. She smiled at him.

Charlotte wrapped her small hand around her wrist and tugged her towards the car. Once inside, the blonde glared at her.

"You were flirting," Charlotte accused.

"So? He's nice and it's not a big deal."

"You're not supposed to flirt with my brother. You're supposed to be my best friend." Possessive much?

"First of all we're not even real friends and second all you do not get to tell me what to do. You can't control everything."

"Well, don't sleep with my brother."

"Maybe I will. Wouldn't you like that?"

"Violet," Charlotte warned, while putting the car into park. They had reached her house somehow without her noticing.

She sighed. "You know I won't. Besides, it would be too weird. He looks too much like you. It would be like sleeping with you."

"Wouldn't you like that," Charlotte repeated to her, venomously. The blonde's green eyes were swimming with emotions and she had a feeling that there was something more going on here.

Violet stayed silent for a moment. She wasn't certain that she wouldn't like that. They had a cataclysmic relationship. She didn't completely hate the blonde, but there was something about her…something about the blonde that drew her in. And there was something between them. She knew there was because they could have very easily just ignored each other and went on with their lives. Yet here they were arguing on a daily biases and pretending to be each other's best friends. She wondered if she cared about Charlotte more than she thought.

By the time she realized that she had taken too long to respond, Charlotte had already turned the engine off. The car was silent and something in the air shifted. She looked over at Charlotte. The blonde was wearing a strange expression on her face.

Charlotte looked at her, then grabbed a handful of her dress, pulling her towards her. Before she knew what was happening Charlotte was kissing her. Soft, warm lips moved against hers and she responded in kind. And just as quickly as it started, it ended.

She pulled back slowly, not sure what to do. Charlotte looked nonplused by the whole ordeal. Maybe she imagined everything?

The blonde arched an eyebrow. "Forget what your house looks like? We're here. Get out already."

She rolled her eyes and then smiled at the blonde. They were going to pretend it never happened. Good. She could do that. What she couldn't do is try and figure out what just happened.

"See you tomorrow," she said while getting out.

Charlotte nodded and gave her a small unsure smile.

She let out a heavy sigh once she was in the house. Tonight was a doozy, but hopefully they could go back to yelling at each other come Tuesday. She looked through the glass panel of her front door only to see the blonde sitting in her car, with the engine still turned off. It was too dark to make out Charlotte's expression, but she knew the kiss had affected her more then she let on. A minute later the engine came to life and Charlotte drove away.


	6. Chapter 6

She was late for her meeting with Charlotte. The blonde was going to be furious with her. Punctuality was Charlotte's biggest pet peeve. She picked up her pace once she got to the fourth floor and practically sprinted to the blonde's office.

"Sorry, I'm late. I got caught up with a patient."

Charlotte stood up silently and motioned for her to come over to her side of the desk. She nervously made her way over. The blonde grabbed her by her hips and pulled her in for a rough kiss. Teeth, tongue and lips crashed together. Violet found herself giving up and letting Charlotte take control of the kiss. She didn't mind though and moaned her appreciation. It was a warm, wet and thorough kiss and something she clearly needed all day.

The blonde pulled away and panted by her ear, "You know I'm going to have to punish you for being late, don't you?"

She clenched her thighs together and nodded enthusiastically.

The blonde smirked. "Good girl. Now bend over."

She let the blonde lower her down to the desk. Charlotte stood behind her without saying a word, without touching her. The anticipation was killing her. She could feel a liquid heat pooling in her belly as she clenched her hands around the edges of the desk. Finally the blonde kicked her legs further apart.

A hand came to rest on her ass. She wriggled impatiently and the blonde gave her a quick smack before wandering under her skirt. Charlotte ran her hand up the insides of her thighs, eliciting a whimper from her.

"Charlotte, please."

The blonde bent over her and put her lips next to her ears. She felt the blonde's hot breath on her skin and moaned. "You're not very patient."

Charlotte cupped her through her soaked panties before slipping a hand underneath the smooth fabric and into her wetness.

She gasped and just as the blonde was about to make good on her punishment her alarm went off.

0oo0oo0

Violet awoke from her arousing dream with a jolt. She slammed a hand down on her alarm clock and let out a frustrated growl. Ever since Charlotte kissed her, her dreams had been getting worse, or better depending on how you looked at it. The blonde hadn't so much as acknowledged her during the past two weeks. Admittedly, that wasn't exactly the blonde's fault. The death of a high profile politician had caused some turmoil at St. Ambrose. The threat of a malpractice lawsuit kept the blonde busy and away from her own practice.

Thankfully, Charlotte was able to persuade the politician's family to drop the case. She watched the story last night on the news and felt oddly relieved that the blonde was off the hook. And even odder, she felt relieved that the blonde was no longer busy at the hospital. She would most likely be back in her office at Pacific Wellcare by this morning.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte sighed. She had to get to the practice extra early this morning just to catch up with the truck load of paperwork left on her desk. St. Ambrose had been such a mess over the last few weeks and she had been trying to put out as many fires as she could while trying to appease the politician's family and keep her hospital in order. She was just happy to be at Pacific Wellness where it was quiet and she could actually see real live patients.

She looked over at the clock. Two weeks ago Violet would have been bringing her coffee and breakfast. The food was nice and she hadn't minded seeing someone who was genuinely nice to her. People usually couldn't wait to scurry away from her and get back to whatever dark hole they crawled out from. The curly-hair therapist had actually stayed and talked to her. It was nice to have someone like that.

Charlotte wasn't really sure what was going on in her own head lately. It wasn't the fact that she enjoyed the therapist's friendliness that bothered her it was that she wanted more. Violet was kind of like a magnet. She drew everyone towards. She had tons of friends and even though Violet was clumsy and awkward she was still able to get a lot of men. For example, her brother and Sheldon. And now her. She had to admit, the therapist was growing on her.

She was used to actively going after what she wanted and always getting it. Now the question was, did she want to go after Violet? She was in desperate need of some good sex. She had a rather healthy sexual appetite and the frustration was beginning to take its toll on her and everyone else around her. She was beginning to feel bad about snapping at her employees for no reason.

0oo0oo0

Violet stopped off at Starbucks ordered their usual, plus the pumpkin spice bread. It was the blonde's favorite. She had stopped getting coffee for the blonde the day after the dinner with Charlotte and her brother, but she thought it might cheer the blonde up after having such a terrible two weeks. She certainly wasn't doing it because she missed the blonde in any way. Nope, definitely not. Charlotte was her mortal enemy. Wasn't she? Violet wasn't really sure what was happening. That kiss just turned her all about, but if the blonde wasn't going to acknowledge what had happened then she wouldn't either.

The blonde was the only one at the practice. It was still early. The blinds to her office were drawn, but she could see the blonde sitting at her desk through the open door, working diligently on her paperwork. She stood in the doorway, suddenly remembering her dream from last night. She felt face heat up and tried to shake it off before making her presence known.

"Morning," she finally said.

The blonde looked up and gave her a tired smile.

"You know you don't have to do that anymore."

She closed the door behind her and then handed the blonde her coffee and pastry.

"I know, but the last two weeks have been crazy for you, so…" She shrugged and looked down at the desk. In her dreams last night she was bent over that desk. She felt her whole body flush. Her cheeks were burning and she was pretty sure that people from space could see how red she was. Why did that dream have to be so hot? Why did Charlotte have to be so hot?

"You okay, Turner? You're turning red."

She looked around the room, trying to avoid looking at the Charlotte, or down her shirt, or at her desk.

Charlotte sat back in her chair and smiled impishly at her. "Oh, I see. You had another dream last night, didn't you?"

She shifted nervously from one foot to the other.

"You wanna tell me what I did to you that has you blushing so hard?"

"You, uh, you bent me over your desk and ..."

She heard a sharp intake of breath and tore her eyes away from the floor to look at the blonde. Charlotte was looking at her with hooded eyes and slightly parted lips.

"And?" The blonde prompted.

She froze in place, unsure what to do. She didn't really know what to do with Charlotte. The blonde had never shown any interest in her before, unless of course it was to verbally abuse her, but something had definitely changed. She was starting to like her.

When she didn't say anything more the blonde got up and walked over to where she was standing. Behind her, Charlotte ran a slender hand down her spine and over the curvature of her backside.

"Tell me what happened," the blonde commanded in a low gravelly voice.

"Okay, this definitely has to be a dream."

The blonde chuckled from behind her and ran both hands along her sides. Those hands then ran over her hips and back up her spine, coming to rest on her shoulders. She shivered involuntarily and wondered if she should put a stop to this. Charlotte was kind of her boss and she was pretty sure this was unethical or inappropriate or something.

Her train of thought was lost when the blonde's hands cupped her ass and then went past the hem of her skirt to the bare skin of her thighs. She was pretty sure she had stopped breathing when she felt Charlotte begin to slowly lift up the back of her skirt.

A knock at the door sent her skyrocketing in the air. The blonde let out a huff of annoyance and opened the door.

It was Wyatt Lockhart. Pacific Wellcare's oncologist and Charlotte's biggest cash cow. "Dr. King, I have an important matter I'd like to discuss with you."

"Of course."

Violet took the hint and hurried out of the room. She should not have let that happen. She should not have let Charlotte run her hands over her until she felt like she was going to explode with frustration.

0oo0oo0

Cooper didn't know what was wrong with his best friend. Violet had been anxious and distracted for the past week or so. He wanted to ask her what was wrong, but he knew Violet. Eventually she wouldn't be able to keep it all to herself and she would blurt it out and tell him everything. Today Violet was looking particularly flustered and he wondered if she was having some sort of romantic fling. It would explain why she was being so tight lipped all of a sudden.

If she was having a fling, it was probably with Sheldon and she really didn't need to hide that. He sighed and threw one of the pillows from Violet's office couch at her.

"Hey!" She protested.

He grinned.

"You're staring off into space again. What's on your mind?"

"Oh, nothing."

"Is it Sheldon?"

"What? Oh, yeah. We still haven't gone on our date yet. He hasn't really talked to me in a while." It was actually the other way around.

"I'm sure he's just busy or Charlotte is being a dragon lady again and scaring the crap out of everyone."

Violet threw the pillow back at him. "You know she's been having a stressful week."

He arched an eyebrow at her, but said nothing. Since when did Vi defend Cruella?

"How's Julia?"

"She's good. Great. We're actually thinking about going away for a weekend."

0oo0oo0

Violet was in between patients at the moment, which was good because the blonde had picked that moment to come in and gracefully seat herself on her office couch. Charlotte crossed her arms, clenched her jaw and otherwise said nothing.

"Are you alright?"

"Of course, I'm alright," the blonde snapped.

"Okay. Sorry I asked."

After a moment of silence the blonde sighed and spoke again. "Lockhart quit on me. That's what he came to discuss this morning. He gave me his two weeks' notice."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Yeah, I bet you are. I bet everyone here will be happy to hear that I can't hold on to my big name doctors."

"Charlotte, that's not true." She genuinely cared that the blonde was upset.

"Unless I can find someone just as stellar as Lockhart, White is going to fire my behind."

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Can you find me another cash cow?"

"Uh-."

The blonde scowled at her suddenly. "Why do you even care?"

She felt like she was going around in circles both figuratively and literally. This conversation was just an endless cycle of her trying to help and the blonde snapping at her. On top of that she was starting to feel a little dizzy and a little queasy.

She attempted to answer Charlotte's question. "Because we're kind of, sort of, friends? We're friendlier. I mean you like me and-."

"I never said I liked you."

"But this morning…in your office. I thought-."

The blonde smirked. "Get over yourself Violet. I work two jobs. Sometimes I need a distraction."

Okay, now she was definitely feeling sick. She put a hand on her churning stomach and tried to take the blonde's comments too seriously. Charlotte was obviously upset. That's probably what all this backlash was. She picked a spot on the floor to stare at and tried to concentrate on not puking.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte waited for the curly-haired therapist to respond, but Violet didn't say anything back. The therapist was silent and staring the floor for some reason. This wasn't any fun at all when the therapist wasn't fighting her back.

"Violet," she said a little hesitantly. She might have been slightly worried that she actually hurt the therapist's feelings.

Violet looked up at her with a pained expression on her face.

Charlotte frowned. "You're as white as a ghost. Are you alright?"

Violet opened her mouth to speak and then quickly ran out of the room, presumably to get to the bathroom.

Now Charlotte actually felt bad about her last jab. She prided herself in being so unaffected by everything, but now Violet was starting to make her feel like a crappy person. A small part of her worried that her words actually made the therapist sick.

She got up and went to Cooper's office. The man in question raised an eyebrow at her sudden appearance.

"You should check on Dr. Turner. She's sick or something."

"Oh," he said, instantly concerned. "Where is she?"

"Try the ladies room."

She watched Cooper hurry out of his office and made a mental note to text the therapist later. She wasn't going to apologize or anything, but she would make sure Violet was alright. It was the least she could do after molesting the woman this morning and then making her sick.


	7. Chapter 7

Cooper looked around the cafeteria for an empty table. It was lunch hour at St. Ambrose and anyone who could sneak away and grab a bite to eat did. He spotted Charlotte at a small table by the window. He scanned the room again and when he couldn't find an empty table he made his way over to the blonde. Charlotte had been oddly amicable lately. He didn't know what had caused this, but he wasn't about to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Do you mind sharing?"

"Go ahead."

He set his tray down and dug into his mac and cheese.

The blonde shifted uncomfortably in her chair.

"Violet's still sick?"

And that was another odd thing. Charlotte had been asking him about Violet every day now. He really wasn't sure what was going on here. Sheldon had told him that Violet was making an effort to better her relationship with the Charlotte since the blonde was now her kind of boss. Apparently there was coffee involved. He wasn't too clear on the details. Who knew? Maybe they were becoming friends.

"Yeah, she's still pretty bad."

"Well, I hope she gets better soon. I had to cancel this week's couples therapy session."

And now things were starting to make sense again. Charlotte wasn't concerned about his best friend's well being; she was concerned about the money she was losing in her absence.

He returned to eating his mac and cheese and the blonde went back to picking at her salad.

"How's your girlfriend," the blonde said suddenly. He watched the blonde cringe at her outburst. She never was good at small talk or socializing normally with human beings.

"Fine. Great actually."

The blonde gave him a tight lipped smile. "That's great."

She didn't seem jealous, but she didn't look that thrilled to hear this news either. Still, Charlotte had clearly moved on from him and it seemed like they could move from being civil to semi-friendly.

"So…are you seeing anyone, Char?"

He saw a strange look pass over the blonde as she paused to think. Now he was curious.

"No, not seeing anyone."

He grinned boyishly at her. "Oh, I get it. You've got your eye on someone."

A light blush spread across the blonde's cheeks. "What? Of course not," She snapped. "I'm a busy woman Cooper. I don't have time for such trivial things."

He chuckled. He had never seen Charlotte this flustered before.

"Is it someone at this hospital?"

The blonde scowled. "It's no one."

"Sure. I know you better than that." He paused. "You actually really like someone," he said with a little wonder in his voice.

The blonde crossed her arms in a huff and glared at him. "Shut up."

He laughed. "I am totally going to find out now."

0oo0oo0

Violet was sick, like really sick. The kind of sick where your whole body hurt and all you could do was lie on the couch and try not to throw up. She had gone home sick on Monday at Cooper's insistence and now it was Friday afternoon. Cooper had done his best to take care of her, but he had patients to see and a girlfriend who took up a lot of his time.

He had planned a thing with Julia for Friday and she told him to go because she didn't need anyone to babysit her. So here she was all alone, suffering and watching her favorite movie, The Wizard of Oz. She curled up in her mess of blankets even more, feeling a sudden chill. She couldn't wait to get better. She would even settle for just being able to stand up without feeling dizzy.

She really wished she wasn't sick because apparently there was a lot going on at the practice. Addison's brother was back in town and supposedly here to stay. Last time Archer was there she had flirted with the idea of sleeping with him and she heard from Cooper that Archer had asked about her. She wondered if Archer would join their practice. She couldn't imagine Addison being happy with that idea. They may have been family, but they fought like cats and dogs.

A knock at the door interrupted her musings. She reluctantly got up hoping that it was Cooper at the door. Maybe he changed his mind and decided to keep her company after all. She looked through the peephole to see none other than Charlotte King. After their last spat she wasn't exactly happy with the blonde. She considered just leaving her there and going back to the couch, but blonde knocked again.

She opened the door before the blonde could knock once more.

"Did you come here just to torture me?"

"Yes," the blonde deadpanned.

Charlotte walked past her and deposited the plastic bag she was carrying on the dining room table.

"Soup," the blonde said in response to her arched eyebrow.

"I'll probably just throw it up." She walked back to the living room and flopped back down on the couch. When she saw that Charlotte had followed her in she threw the blankets over her head and hid.

The blonde settled herself at the end of her couch by her feet. "You're still sick, huh?"

"Yes," she whined. "I hate it. Why are you even here anyways?"

"I've already lost Wyatt. I don't want to lose out on couples therapy. So, try not to die."

Violet threw the blankets off her face just so the blonde could see her roll her eyes. Charlotte chose to ignore that and scooted closer. In turn, she adjusted her legs so that they were resting on top of the blonde's lap. She felt Charlotte's cool hand touch her forehead.

"You're still feverish. Have you tried eating anything today?"

She shook her head no.

The blonde got up to leave the room and came back with the container of soup and a plastic spoon.

"Here, try eating this."

She ate a few spoonfuls and after nothing happened she decided it was safe enough to finish the rest. She handed the container back to the blonde feeling full for the first time this week. She was about to thank the blonde when she felt the acid in her stomach rising. She sprang up from the couch and ran to the bathroom locking the door behind her.

She could hear the blonde asking if she was alright as she leaned over the porcelain bowl. She really shouldn't have tried to eat anything. She knew it was just going to make her nauseous. Once she finished and rinsed her out her mouth with mouth wash, she made her way back to the couch.

She felt weak and her stomach was still hurting her. All she wanted to do was curl up on the couch and die. Charlotte helped readjust her blankets and then resumed sitting at the end of the couch.

What Violet really wanted was to cuddle. Cooper always held her when she was sick. She just liked being a big baby and snuggling up with people when she was sick. She looked over at Charlotte. The blonde was currently watching the Wizard of Oz. She made a decision and decided that she was just going to be completely pathetic today. She crawled over to other end of the couch and lay her head down on the blonde's lap.

The blonde made a noise of surprise, but otherwise said nothing. She tried to get more comfortable, but her stomach was churning and her body ached. She squirmed around a little before curling up into a tight ball.

"You look miserable," the blonde said above her.

She pouted. "I feel miserable."

"Well, you just close your eyes and try and get some sleep."

She nodded and closed her eyes. She heard the blonde lower the TV until she could only make out the murmuring of voices. When she felt Charlotte's hand gently stroke her hair she opened her eyes again. Charlotte wasn't paying attention to the TV at all; she was gazing down at her.

The blonde smiled softly at her. "Didn't I tell you to go to sleep?"

She did as she was told and the blonde resumed stroking her hair. She decided not to question why Charlotte was even here at all and just enjoy this surprisingly tender moment.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte looked down as Violet began to stir in her lap. The therapist blinked sleepily up at her and she couldn't help thinking that Violet looked… well, she looked adorable.

God, she really didn't know what was wrong with her. She had no idea what on earth had possessed her to come over to the therapist's house and then proceed to stay and comfort her. She was getting all of these soft, fluttery feelings in the pit of her stomach.

She wasn't supposed to feel this way, not about Violet. She didn't even really know what she was feeling. It was definitely more than like, more than a crush. She knew why she came to Violet today. She came because she cared about the woman and not just in a friendly way. These feeling were really going to complicate her life. As if it wasn't hard enough.

She reached down to brush a few errant curls out of Violet's face.

0oo0oo0

Violet knew that she should probably move and respect the blonde's personal space now, but she was far too comfortable to move. She stretched her arms and legs before curling up closer to the Charlotte again.

The movie was still going and close to the end. She hadn't slept for long, but she felt a lot better. She closed her eyes as a cool hand came to rest on her forehead.

"You're fever's gone."

"Good. I feel better."

"You should still rest."

She chuckled. "Who knew Dr. King had good bedside manners."

The blonde rolled her eyes. "I like taking care of my patients. I just don't care much for everyone else."

She sat up and faced the blonde. "Even me? Am I still just a distraction? I thought...well, I thought we were becoming friends."

"We are. I was just being…"

"An ass?" Violet supplied helpfully.

The blonde bit a smile back. "I was going to say difficult, but I think your description works too."

"So, no more fighting? And maybe we could, I don't know, hang out sometime." She didn't know why she was feeling so shy right now. She felt a little like a teenager talking to her crush. "We could get to know each other better."

The blonde stared at a spot on the floor. "I'd like that."

0oo0oo0

A week passed and Violet was still throwing up, but she didn't have a fever anymore and all the other symptoms of illness had disappeared. She was even back at work. She should have suspected something when she skipped her period last month, but she was just so busy that she didn't really notice.

She looked at the box again. If a blue plus showed up, she was pregnant. If it was the red negative sign she was in the clear. She honestly didn't know what she was going to do if it was a plus. She wanted children and she had even planned on starting a family soon. She just didn't plan on having a baby alone.

But she had a stable job and the resources to take care of a baby, so she had no reason to give the baby up and she didn't think she could terminate the pregnancy.

The timer went off. She took a deep breath and lifted the test stick off the sink. A blue plus had appeared.

She was pregnant and she was keeping it.

0oo0oo0

Cooper rushed to Violet's as fast a legally possibly. Violet had called him a few minutes ago. She told him it wasn't urgent, but the way her voice trembled told him that she really needed him right now. Julia had been a little less than understanding. He had spent last week taking care of his best friend and now he was rushing to her side at a moment's notice.

He had this problem with a lot of girlfriends. They would get jealous of her, but they just didn't understand that Violet was his family. He had once been in love with her, but now he loved her like a sister and he would do anything for her, especially since her own family was so horrible.

Violet opened the door and something like relief flooded her eyes.

"I told you, you didn't have to come right away."

"I know you, Vi. This is important."

She nodded and led him to the living room where they sat on the couch. He gave her some time to gather her thoughts, but after a few minutes of silence he finally had to ask.

"Violet, you can tell me."

She nodded and took a calming breath. "I'm pregnant."

"With a baby?" He blurted out. He was shocked. This was the last thing he thought she was going to say.

Violet gave him a look.

"Sorry, I'm just surprised. When did you find out?"

"This morning. I've been thinking about it."

"Whatever you decide to do Vi, I'll support you."

She smiled weakly. "I'm keeping it."

He grinned and then wrapped her up in a giant bear hug. "Vi, that's great! I'm going to be an uncle." He pulled back to look at her. "You're going to be a mom."

Her lip trembled and she started to cry. He pulled her back into a hug and pressed a kiss into her hair.

"I'll help you. You won't be alone, Vi. I promise."

"Thank you."

He had a feeling that that's exactly what she needed to hear.

"We'll make an appointment with Addison for tomorrow. Okay?"

"Okay."


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter 8:

Violet was waiting in Cooper's office after her appointment with Addison this morning. Everything had checked out okay. She was 6 weeks pregnant and the baby was healthy so far. Addison had promised to be discreet about her visit as her doctor and as her friend. The last thing she needed was for everyone to find out and start badgering her. Addison and Cooper were already asking her who the father was.

Cooper came back in the room with a grin on his face and something behind his back.

"Okay Vi, close your eyes."

She did as she was told and felt a gift bag deposited into her hands. She looked down at the white and yellow polka dotted bag and smiled at her friend.

"Cooper, you didn't have to do this."

"Yeah, yeah," he dismissed. "Now open it."

She reached down into the bag and pulled out a soft white onesie with a little yellow duck on its front. It was precious.

"Cooper…" Looking down at the onesie she felt like she was going to cry. She really was going to be a mom. Her whole life was going to change and her baby was going to be so damn cute in this little onesie.

"Thank you." She wiped a few tears that had managed to escape. "Sorry, about all of this," she said while motioning to her tearstained face.

"You're probably just a little hormonal. I'm glad you liked it. Julia helped pick it out. My enthusiasm for babies totally got me laid last night."

She shook her head. Some things just never change. No matter how old they got, Cooper would still act like a horny teenage boy.

"Well, tell her I said thanks."

"Will do. So, will you tell me who's the father now?"

"No, cause you'll get mad." She put the onesie back into the bag.

"I will not."

She sighed. He had been asking her that question all day yesterday and now all morning. She had a feeling he wasn't going to give up.

"Fine, it's Pete."

"Pete? Pete Wilder? Our Pete?"

"Yeah."

Cooper frowned. "I am going to kill him."

She jumped up and put a hand on his arm to stop him. "Cooper! Stop it. We're both two consenting adults. He did nothing wrong."

"Oh my god, when did you sleep with Pete! Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I knew you would act like this. Now calm down. He doesn't even know I'm pregnant yet."

He looked at her apologetically. "Sorry. I promise I won't say anything, but you know you should probably tell the guy, so I can kill him afterwards."

She rolled her eyes at him. "Thanks."

"Anything else you're hiding from me?"

She knew he was joking, but she couldn't help the expression that came across her face.

"I was kidding, Violet. What is it?"

"Me and Charlotte are trying to be friends. There, that's everything." She felt so much better now.

"Oh. Well, good luck with that. You're going to need it."

"She's not that bad."

"Says the woman who used to call her Cruella."

"That was before I got to know her."

"That's exactly what I was telling you the entire time I was dating her," he said exasperatedly.

"Yeah, I know."

"Wait, if you're friends now, do you know who Charlotte likes?"

She gave him a look. "Are we in high school?"

"No, I'm being serious. She actually has feelings for someone. She just won't admit it."

"Well yeah, she's Charlotte."

0oo0oo0

Once Violet was back in her office she closed the door, drew the blinds and took out the onesie once more. One day a tiny little baby was going to wear this, her baby. She was terrified and excited all at the same time. She let the tears welling up fall freely this time.

A knock at the door startled her out of her reverie. She hastily wiped away the tears and went to open the door.

"Hey, I wanted to know if…," The blonde paused and studied her closely. "Have you been-."

Violet cut her off by planting a kiss on the blonde's lips. She hoped this would distract the blonde from asking her more questions. She snaked her arms around the blonde and pulled her in closer. Charlotte's lips were warm and soft against hers. She ran her tongue over the blonde's bottom lip. Charlotte's lips parted and she began her thorough exploration of the blonde's mouth. Eventually when the need of air became necessary she pulled away.

"You kiss all your friends like that," Charlotte said dryly.

"Only the hot, blonde ones."

The blonde chuckled and then paused to finally get a good look at her. "You've been crying."

"Oh, it's nothing," she said quietly.

"We're friends now and I know you like to talk…about everything. Do you want to talk about it?"

She laughed a little at what she assumed was an unintentional insult. "No, we don't have to talk about this."

"Oh, okay." A pause and then, "Did you talk to Cooper about it?"

She could detect a note of jealousy in the blonde's tone. "Charlotte, Cooper's been my best friend since college. We just started this…thing after hating each other for years. We still have some work to do, but we'll get there."

"Fine," the blonde said with grudging acceptance. "Can I at least give you a hug or something?"

She grinned. "Charlotte King wants to hug me."

"Charlotte King wants to punch you."

She tried not to laugh. "Sorry. I would actually like a hug."

The blonde wrapped her arms around her and pulled her in. Violet gripped her tightly and buried her face in the crook of the blonde's neck. She allowed herself this one moment of weakness before she pulled herself away and composed herself again. She had patients and really this wasn't the end of the world. She could be a mother. She could do this.

"You know you can talk to me, Violet. You can trust me."

The blonde was looking at her so earnestly; she couldn't help but believe her. She was getting to see this whole new side of Charlotte. A fragile, vulnerable side that she had only caught glimpses of before. Before she could stop herself, she leaned in again and pressed a sweet soft kiss against the blonde's lips.

"I know I can."

She didn't realize how much she was starting to care for the blonde. She had a feeling that this was leading to something a whole lot bigger than a crush. But she really shouldn't let that happen. Charlotte was her best friend's ex-girlfriend and dating exes goes against the rules. She was pretty sure that Cooper would be pissed at her for eternity. And on top of that she was pregnant. No, she would just have to be content with being Charlotte's friend. No more kissing.

0oo0oo0

Violet placed her hand on the door to Pete's office. She should really tell him. This was his kid. It had been almost a week since she found out she was pregnant and she still hadn't told him. She promised herself that she would tell him as soon as possible because if she didn't do it now, she probably would never tell him. God, this is what she gets for having no strings attached sex.

She pulled her hand away from the door. She could probably tell him after lunch. Now that she thought about it she hadn't spent a lot of time with Charlotte this week. How was she supposed to build a friendship with her if they didn't spend any time together?

Yep, she would tell Pete after lunch. She made her way up to Pacific Wellcare only to find the blonde's office empty.

She must be at St. Ambrose.

She pulled her cell phone out and dialed Charlotte's number.

The blonde picked up on the first ring. "Dr. King. This better be important."

"You really answer your phone like that?"

"Only when I know it's someone who's going to annoy me."

She rolled her eyes even though she knew Charlotte couldn't see her. "Now I understand why you're so popular. It's your sparkling personality that really attracts people, isn't it?"

"Haha, Turner, you're hilarious," the blonde said sardonically. "Is there a reason you decided to call?"

"Hey, you were all over being my friend the other day."

"Well, you were all over me that other day. What good is a friendship without any of the perks?"

"Did you not learn what friendship was about in kindergarten?"

"Of course not. I never went to kindergarten I skipped straight to first grade."

"Of course you did. Anyways, did you wanna grab lunch together?"

The blonde sighed. "I'm busy Violet."

She really hoped the blonde was being sincere when she said they could get to know each other.

"You're not mad at me, are you?"

"No, I'm not mad at you. When I say I'm busy I'm actually busy. You'd be surprised how much paperwork one hospital can generate. At this rate I'll be here all night."

"Sorry to hear that." And she meant it. She had always thought the blonde was crazy for taking on a job at a practice on top of being the youngest Chief of Staff St. Ambrose has ever had. "Do you want me to bring lunch to you? Whatever you want."

"Yeah, that would be…great, actually. Thanks."

"No problem. What are friends for?"

"Guess, you'll have to teach me."

I had a feeling I would.

0oo0oo0

Being Charlotte's friend was as hard as she thought it would be. The blonde was always busy and always mad about someone or about something. She was difficult to talk to and almost never divulged any personal information. She thought that once they agreed to stop fighting that they would kind of get along. Now those occasional tender moments she had with the blonde were virtually nonexistent, that is if the blonde ever graced her with her presence.

By now the entire practice had heard about her plans to befriend the bossy blonde. It was safe to say that none of them had any faith in her. She asked them if they could be a little more welcoming to Charlotte and was met with a couple of shrugs. She thought maybe it was all the hostility from her coworkers that prevented the blonde from coming down here and talking to her. She was really doing everything she could think of to cultivate this friendship.

"Being friends with Charlotte is hard," she complained. Everyone was gathered in the break room for coffee before the practice was officially open for the day.

"You really thought Charlotte would make it easy?" Addison asked.

"No. Why is she making this difficult?"

"You think she would be excited that someone actually wants to be her friend," Dell said from the corner.

"Dell," Addison admonished.

Archer picked that moment to walk in. He had been popping up at the practice lately. Obviously getting bored from his self-imposed sabbatical.

"What are we talking about, guys," Archer asked while stealing his sister's cup of coffee. Addison glared at him, but otherwise let him keep the cup.

"Charlotte King," Sam answered.

"Ah, that foxy blonde from upstairs."

Violet frowned. She was really starting to not like this guy. He's was a little bit of a sleaze ball.

"She's the Director of the practice upstairs," she said tersely.

"Whatever. She's hot. Is she single?"

She really wanted to say no. She really hated the thought of Charlotte and him together. She really hated the thought of Charlotte with anyone. This was a problem. She promised herself she would only pursue a friendship with the blonde. Her life was complicated enough as it was, what with the pregnancy and everything. Good, she really was a mess.

"Better yet," Archer said before anyone had the chance to answer. "Is she hiring?"

"You really want to join the enemy practice," Addison asked.

"Afraid you won't be able to handle the competition with me there?"

Addison rolled her eyes at her brother. "You're doing this just to annoy me."

A pager went off and everyone looked down.

"It's mine," Said Cooper. "911 at St. Abrose. I'll see you guys later."

"I'll walk over with you," She said. She might as well go see the blonde anyways.

She realized she might have a slight obsession with this woman and it's not just because she desperately wanted to be friends with her. She was definitely attracted to the blonde, but who wouldn't be. The woman was gorgeous. And Charlotte had also expressed an interest for something more. Friends with perks? Benefits? If she were honest with herself it wasn't just the sex she wanted, it was all the sweet tender moments that Charlotte had shared with her. She wanted to see more of the woman behind the mask.

The walk to St. Ambrose was a short one. They waited at the crosswalk for the light to change. Across the street she saw Charlotte with her head buried in the file she was holding. She waited for the blonde to stop at her end of the crosswalk and look up so she could wave hello. The next few seconds happened so quickly that she barely had time to react. The blonde didn't stop, she kept walking into the middle of the crosswalk in front of the incoming traffic. Cars screeched to a halting stop, but there was one truck that just couldn't stop in time.

Charlotte froze and the file she was holding dropped out of her hands.

Without thinking Violet ran to Charlotte ignoring Cooper's shouts of protest. Everything seemed to happen so fast, yet so slowly as well. The truck was skidding on the pavement towards them. She reached out and lunged at the blonde sending them tumbling to the other end of the crosswalk.

Pain blossomed all over her body, but especially on her right side and arm. She could hear the truck finally screeching to a stop. She could hear Cooper's voice yelling to them and the shouts of everyone else around them. She thanked god that they were both alive.


	9. Chapter 9

Some kind of miracle had happened today. Instead of getting hit by that oncoming truck Charlotte was alive and well, with only a few scratches and bruises. Her savior was currently sitting in front of her, getting the finishing touches of her cast done. She had let one of her doctors check her out as well and as a consequence missed most of Violet's treatment.

The therapist broke her arm in the dive to save her, severely bruised her hip and had a number of scratches on her back and the right side of her body. Violet didn't sustain any life threatening injuries. Thank god. She was still a little shell shocked herself. Her hands were shaking just a little from her near death experience.

Charlotte was currently standing next to Cooper, watching one of her nurses wrap Violet's cast with a purple fiberglass bandage. She rolled her eyes internally over the therapist's love of all things purple. She studied Violet's face closely for any signs of pain. She knew that they had given her something earlier, but she was just wanted to be sure. Violet was getting the star treatment at her hospital. She had rushed the therapist through triage and went straight to radiology.

She watched Violet frown and then look down at her lap. The therapist pulled up her hospital gown just a bit and blanched.

"Cooper," Violet said with wide frightened eyes.

She stepped closer to Violet. On the paper covered exam table she could see splotches of blood covering the paper between Violet's legs. Cooper was the first to spring into action. He reached for Violet's hand, the one that wasn't in a cast, and waved the nurse away.

"Charlotte, page Dr. Montgomery. Now!"

She's pregnant?

0oo0oo0

Charlotte was waiting outside the room Violet, Cooper and Addison were currently in. She paced near the door nervously while Addison preformed the ultrasound. She wasn't sure if Violet wanted her in there or not. She came back closer to the door once she heard murmuring on the other side.

"Tell me what's happening."

Her heart tightened when she heard Violet's panicked voice.

Please let her be okay. Please.

"I'm sorry, Violet."

Once she heard the heart wrenching sobs begin, she left. She couldn't take it. She took off as fast as she could without breaking into an outright run. Once she made it outside, she looked for a quiet empty spot and sat down on the bench there.

She took a deep breath and squeezed her eyes shut.

"Dammit!"

This is my fault. Why didn't I just look up? She saved me, but she lost her baby. Why would she want to be friends with me now? I did that to her. It's my fault.

She took a couple more calming breathes before deciding to stay away from Violet from now on. It was obvious to her that Violet was going to hate her for this. Every time the therapist looked at her all she was going to remember was that she's the reason her baby was gone. It was better this way. Really, who was she kidding? Who would want to be friends with Cruella? God, and she had been hoping that it would turn into something more. Why did she have to ruin everything that was good in her life?

0oo0oo0

Violet had told everyone that she was okay, that the baby had been a surprise and that she probably would have been a terrible mother anyways. She took a week off to recover physically and emotionally. She decided to put it behind her and just not think about it. Cooper tried to keep her company, but she told him she wanted to be alone. During the middle of that week home a bouquet of yellow sunflowers arrived. The little card that came with them was short and to the point:

Thank you.

-Charlotte

They were bright and cheery, but did nothing to lift her spirits. Still, she appreciated the sentiment. Now that she thought about it, Charlotte didn't really have time to thank her before. Everything had happened so fast. Saving Charlotte's life, the hospital, the miscarriage…

She called the blonde soon after, but got no answer. She figured Charlotte was busy with a patient, but days later the blonde still hadn't picked up the phone or answered her text messages. She wondered if she had done something wrong.

She went back to work a week later. She was different now, quiet, distant, almost cold. She still went to the practice, did her job with a smile, but beyond that it was almost like she wasn't there. Everyone knew something was really wrong with her. They could see her pain so clearly, but no one, it seemed, could really help.

Sheldon once told her it was okay to grieve, but she told him, "How can you mourn something you never had to begin with?" He wisely said nothing after that, but continued to sit with her. That helped a little. Addison would keep her company in the mornings and look at her with understanding. Pete didn't know what to do. They talked once and she told him everything. He hugged her and then just let her be when she said she didn't need anything from him.

Naomi was sympathetic and sweet to her and that, she couldn't handle. Dell and Sam were awkward around her and Cooper was, as always, her rock.

As for Charlotte, she hadn't seen hide nor hair of the blonde, which was funny because she was the one Violet actually wanted to talk to. She didn't really know why though. The week ended and still no Charlotte. She stopped texting the blonde after that. Then another week passed and another and soon a whole month had gone by.

At the end of the month Cooper had come over as he usually did and they sat and watched TV. She was still quiet and withdrawn. She had lost weight and couldn't sleep at night. She refused to let herself be sad, but inside she was all eaten up about how her life could have been. She refused to be helped, refused to talk about it and refused to let people in. In all honestly she was still shocked. She lost the baby. Her baby had died. She barely knew him or her and yet it cut her so deep, down to her very core.

Usually she was quiet during the times Cooper was over. They would sit there pretending that this was normal, that everything was okay, that the fact that Cooper hadn't seen his best friend really smile in over a month was okay. She had tried to get her to see a therapist, but she told him she was okay. She just needed time. It was clear to everyone that Violet was not okay.

0oo0oo0

Cooper was sitting on the couch, watching TV with his clearly distressed best friend. It had been a month since the whole incident and Violet was just getting worse. He had no idea how to help her, especially when she refused to talk to him or anyone else about her miscarriage.

She had been so excited about the baby. The weeks before the miscarriage they had talked about what the baby would be like, looked for good names, bought a few more articles of tiny adorable clothes. In those few weeks they had made the baby a real, tangible thing for Violet. She had been so happy, a little scared, but happy. He just didn't know what to do to help her and seeing her like this just broke his heart.

Lately Violet was quiet, even when he was there and talking to her, but today she looked at him, with her sad lifeless eyes and actually spoke.

"Why won't Charlotte talk to me?"

That's not what he had been expecting. He sputtered and then finally said, "What?"

"Ever since that day, she hasn't talked to me. She won't answer my calls or texts and she avoids me when I'm in her practice for couples therapy. Did I do something wrong? Is she mad at me?"

The look Violet was giving him right now was just heartbreaking. She honestly thought she had done something wrong. What he really wanted to do was give Charlotte a piece of his mind. He knew she would do something like this. Charlotte didn't have friends and she had always told him she had no use for them unless they had something she needed. The woman was selfish and didn't deserve such a caring and wonderful person like Violet.

He wrapped his arm around her and pulled her in closer. Violet allowed him to do this and rested her head on his chest.

"I don't know Vi."

Violet was quiet for a few minutes. He thought she had fallen asleep and then, finally, she spoke in a voice so quiet he almost didn't hear her.

"She won't talk to me."

He made up his mind then that tomorrow he would go talk to Charlotte.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte did her best to get on with her life. It was hard at first to ignore Violet's calls and texts and even harder to avoid her in person, especially not when Violet looked like hell warmed over. She couldn't sleep at nights. Guilt sat heavily on her chest and all she could think about was what she had taken away from Violet. She went on with her life, worked her two jobs saw her patients and went back to being friendless.

It was harder then she thought it would be. Somehow she had gotten used to Violet's presence in her life, gotten used to the banter, the calls and all of Violet's attempts at friendship. It actually hurt her to be away from Violet. It felt…it actually felt a little like breaking up with someone. She remembered how torn up she had felt after Cooper had dumped her. It felt a little like that.

But she couldn't….No, whatever feelings she had for Violet never reached that far or deep. It couldn't possibly have. She would know. Wouldn't she?

The first week she was apart from Violet, she sent flowers. The second week she wouldn't even look at the therapist. The third week passed and then a whole month passed and her life was back to being normal, lonely, but normal.

Violet had tried to call in the beginning, but eventually she stopped. Charlotte reasoned they hadn't been friends for long anyway. Violet probably wouldn't even miss her in her life.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte looked up at the knock on her door. She nearly rolled her eyes when she saw that it was Archer Montgomery, her newest cash cow. Sure he kept her from nearly being fired and he raked in the big bucks, but he was a pompous ass.

He sauntered into the room and fell gracelessly into one of chairs in front of her desk.

"Do you want something Montgomery," she spat once she noticed that he was staring down her shirt.

He flashed her a grin. "I can't just come and say hello to a beautiful woman."

"No," she said tersely. She was not in the mood to deal with him today.

He sighed. "Fine. I was just downstairs."

"In the enemy practice?"

"I was talking to my sister." The 'duh' was implied. She was still hoping she might be able lure the other Montgomery over to her practice. A brother and sister duo would be impressive. "But anyways, that Cooper guy wants to talk to you, whenever you get a chance."

"Oh, thanks." She returned to her paperwork, but when she noticed he hadn't moved yet, she cocked an eyebrow at him.

"You can leave now."

He smiled flirtatiously at her. "I like them feisty."

She was about to throw something at him. "Get out."

An hour later when she was in between patients she made her way downstairs. She wondered what he could possibly want to talk about. She stepped out of the elevator and almost walked into the other Montgomery.

"Sorry, Dr. King," Addison apologized.

"No problem. May I just say that your brother is just a joy to have around."

The redhead grinned at her. "I warned you."

"That you did."

She left the redhead at the elevators and headed straight towards the pediatrician's office.

"You wanted to talk to me?"

Cooper eyed her warily before getting up to close door and draw the blinds.

"Have a seat," he said while pointing at his office couch. He opted to sit on the coffee table.

She felt anxiety bloom in her stomach. He was using his serious voice.

"Okay, what's this all about?"

"Do you want to tell me why you won't talk to Violet anymore? She told me you won't answer her calls or texts and that you avoid her when you see her. Was being her friend some kind of ploy? Got what you wanted and then dropped her, Char?" His voice was low and calm, like the grey sky before the storm.

"It's not like that."

"Really? Because she offered you an olive branch and you've done nothing, but ignore her. She's barely talked to anyone since….since she lost the baby, but for some reason, god only knows why, she wants to talk to you."

0oo0oo0

"She wants to talk to you," Cooper repeated again slowly. He studied Charlotte closely, watching her curl up into herself and become smaller. At least she had the sense to feel some shame. "Have you seen her lately because she's not the same, Char. I don't know why you abandoned her, but she needs you. So just get over yourself and go talk to her."

"I can't," she said in that small voice that usually broke his heart. He wanted to stay angry, but clearly there was more to this story.

He sighed. "And why can't you?"

He watched her fidget on the couch and look around the room. Okay now he was a little worried.

"She shouldn't want to be friends with me. I killed her baby, Coop. If I had just looked up for a second, she would be fine. She would still be pregnant."

He watched her face crumble for a second before she looked away from him. Of course she would blame herself. Why hadn't he seen this earlier? He reached over and placed a hand on top of hers.

"Oh Char," he breathed. "This is not your fault."

She pushed his hand away, clearly not believing him. Now his heart really was breaking for her.

"Listen to me." He waited until she actually looked at him. "Violet doesn't blame you for this."

"But-."

He cut her off. "Violet doesn't blame you. She just misses you."

"Really?"

"Yeah. Although, I have no idea why." A pillow flies in his direction and he knows she's alright now. "So, you'll go talk to her? Soon?"

"Yeah, I'll talk to her," she agreed.

"So, you guys are really friends, huh?"

The door to his office opened before the blonde got a chance to respond and all of a sudden Julia is there. He could feel panic rising in him as Julia spotted Charlotte, his ex, sitting on the couch.

"I'm sorry, am I interrupting something?" The way she said it told him that she was not too pleased to see him alone with an attractive blonde.

"I was just leaving," Charlotte says while he's floundering.

He looked between his girlfriend and his ex-girlfriend and he can literally feel them sizing each other up. He didn't understand why women did this. He felt like they were about to mark their territory or something.

"Julia, this is Charlotte," he finally said. "Charlotte this is Julia."

"Charlotte King?" Julia said uncertainly. She knew all about his ex and he knew that Julia, who also worked at St. Ambrose, had heard all the rumors about him and his ex.

He nodded his head and looked over at the blonde who was about to say something. He prayed to god that just this once she would say something nice.

"That would be the one," Charlotte said flippantly. "So, nice to meet you," she added in a sugar sweet tone.

He can see Julia visibly bristle and decided to stop this before it got worse.

"Okay," he said while getting up. "Char has to go now. I mean Charlotte has to go now" He cursed himself internally for slipping up and using the blonde's nickname. God, Julia was going to kill him.

The blonde got up slowly, almost seductively, from the couch and smiled prettily at his girlfriend. He watched Julia give Charlotte an artificial smile back. They were about two seconds away for a girl fight. He knows he should be worried, but the idea of Charlotte and Julia fighting over him, or at all, kind of turns him on a little. All that hair pulling and rolling around….and he should really say something right about now.

"Okay, goodbye Charlotte." He pushed her out the door and turned to his girlfriend who really didn't look too happy.

Julia's blue eyes flashed at him. "That's Charlotte? You never told me she was so beautiful."

Okay, he was pretty sure this was a trap. There was nothing he could say that would be right.

"Uhh," he sputtered.

"Why was she here, anyways?"

"Violet, wants to talk to her, but Charlotte's has been ignoring her."

Julia pounced on this bit of information. "That's horrible. Poor Violet."

"Apparently, it's not like that. Charlotte blames herself for Violet's miscarriage. She thinks that Violet would have been okay if she didn't have to save her."

"Oh." He can see Julia starting to form a new opinion about Charlotte. "You told her that Violet doesn't blame her, right?"

"Of course. Hopefully, they'll make up and Violet will finally open up to someone."

Julia smiled softly and then proceeded to wrap her arms around him. "You're such a good man, Cooper."

0oo0oo0

It was a week before Charlotte gathered up her courage and decided to finally speak to Violet. Charlotte was currently at St. Ambrose, standing by an exit and staring across the parking lot. It was raining buckets of water and she hadn't thought to bring her umbrella today.  
She could wait till it stopped or she could just run like hell and hope for the best. She chose the latter. It wasn't until she was soaking wet and sitting in her car that she decided to go visit Violet. She drove the short distance to the therapist's house slowly. With the rain coming down the way it was, she almost couldn't see the road. And on top of that it was already dark out.

When she finally stood outside Violet's door she was cold, shivering and wet. She realized that she had no idea what she was going to say. She knocked on the door anyway. She heard some movement behind the door before it finally opened. A thin, tired looking version of Violet appeared before her. That just added to the guilt she already felt.

Violet stared at her as if she couldn't quite believe what she was seeing.

"Charlotte?"

"Hi."

The sound of rain hitting the ground filled up a moment of silence.

"Well, get inside. You look like a drowned rat," Violet said, while pulling her in.

Charlotte stood there awkwardly, dripping water on to the floor.

"You should get out of those wet clothes. You'll catch your death."

She nodded and allowed Violet to push her wet coat down her shoulders and off her body. Charlotte shivered under the therapist's touch.  
Violet stared at her for a second before removing her top as well. The kissing that followed was inevitable, as was everything that followed after.

The therapist's warm lips moved against her still cold ones. She wrapped her arms around Violet, pulling her flush against her and Violet pressed a line of hot wet kiss along the column of her neck. She squirmed in pleasure and pushed herself closer to Violet. The therapist's hands brushed against the sides of her bra-clad breasts, down her sides and to her pants, where Violet proceeded to unbutton and unzip said pants.

Pants were taken off quickly and once she realized how naked she was and how clothed Violet still was, she decided to fix that. She quickly divested the therapist of her pajama pants and oversized t-shirt and was pleased to find that Violet wasn't wearing a bra.

Dear lord, this woman was gorgeous. Violet grinned at the starstruck expression that she knew she must have been wearing. Once she got her fill looking, she drew Violet close to her again kissed her, again. It was soft and tender and she tried to convey just how sorry she was to have stayed away from the therapist for so long. When they broke apart for air she rested her forehead against Violet's.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry, I was such a complete bitch to you."

Violet nuzzled her nose against hers. "Yeah? Why'd you do that?"

"I thought that you hated me. You had to save me and you lost your baby. If I had just-."

Violet cut her off. "No, Charlotte, honey, that's what you thought?"

She nodded.

"God, I don't hate you and I definitely don't blame you for what happed. So don't think like that. Okay?

"Okay," she repeated.

"Why don't we go upstairs and get reacquainted with each other?"

Charlotte grinned. "Guess this will be a dream come true for you." After all this whole mess started with a sex dream.

Violet laughed and led her upstairs by the hand.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter 10:

They had spent the whole night talking. Well, after they finished a couple amazing rounds of sex. Violet knew Charlotte going to be good in bed. Some people are just like that. You can look and them and tell that they're a total animal in the sack. The first round had been sweet and tender, but she knew that had been Charlotte's version of an apology. It was a good apology. And everything after that was just…wow.

While she had been in the process of taking off the blonde's bra it occurred to her that Charlotte may have never been with a woman before. She had only ever heard of Charlotte's sexual exploits with men. When she asked, Charlotte just laughed and said this wasn't her first rodeo. Charlotte was such a sexual being, it made sense that her sexuality would be fluid.

But anyways, after that Charlotte had listened to her talk all night, wiped away all her tears and even promised to help box up all the baby stuff with her later. She felt a little better after that. At some point she must have fallen asleep because the next thing she knew the sun was streaming through the window. She looked over to see Charlotte reading one of her trashier romance novels.

"What time is it?" Her voice was still husky with sleep.

"A little after noon."

She pushed herself up into a sitting position and scrubbed her hands over her face.

"Why did you let me sleep in so late?" She mumbled into her hands.

The blonde shrugged. "You looked tired."

"I was," she agreed while surreptitiously moving closer to Charlotte for a quick snuggle.

Charlotte huffed. "Oh, just get over here. You look like a baby caterpillar scootin' around like that."

She laughed. "Sorry, I know how you hate to cuddle."

The blonde rolled her eyes and pulled her in closer. "I don't hate it; I'm just not a big fan. If you wanna cuddle, then we can cuddle." She brushed a few errant curls out of Violet's face. "Good Lord, you womenfolk are so needy."

Violet giggled and then kissed the blonde. Charlotte had no idea how adorable her grumpiness could be sometimes.

Eventually they got up and Violet made breakfast with Charlotte's help. She didn't want to say anything, but the blonde was kind of a klutz in the kitchen. Spilling juice, burning the eggs. It was nice to know that the blonde wasn't perfect at everything.

They spent the afternoon making out on her couch and watching Gilmore Girls. It amused her to find out that the blonde actually liked the show. She thought for sure that Charlotte would only watch documentaries and discovery health or other equally boring shows. At the end of the day the blonde had to leave. Having two jobs didn't translate to a lot of free time. Charlotte left her reluctantly, but promised to have coffee with her come Monday morning.

0oo0oo0

The weekend passed and when Violet returned to the practice she was doing much better than she had before. She had spent the rest of her weekend grieving and crying and getting past her loss. She wasn't completely better, but it was definitely a start and everyone noticed.

She smiled at Addison and Naomi, who were also in the break room getting their morning coffee. Her phone buzzed, alerting her to a text message.

Charlotte: Be down in a minute.

She smiled at the message and returned to bustling around the break room kitchenette, humming as she did.

"Someone's in a good mood," Addison commented behind her.

Violet turned around and smiled. "Yeah, I guess I am."

"Something happen over the weekend?" Naomi asked with a lift of her eyebrow.

An image of Charlotte lying naked on her bed flitted through her mind and a light blush graced her cheeks. "Oh, nothing really."

Addison opened her mouth to stay something more, but then decided to just let it go. The ding of the elevator and the click-clack of heels told her that Charlotte had arrived.

The blonde was carrying two mugs of coffee. Charlotte handed the purple mug to her.

She patted the barstool next to her. "We have coffee here too, you know."

"Yeah, but mine's better," Charlotte said smugly.

No one disagreed with her because it was completely true. Pacific Wellcare coffee was just good.

"Mornin'," Charlotte greeted Naomi and Addison, who had gone silent upon her arrival.

The blonde glanced at her uneasily. Charlotte had never really gotten along with anyone at Oceanside, even when she was dating Cooper.

Addison had seen the look the blonde was giving Violet and decided to take initiative.

"So Charlotte, have a good weekend?"

The blonde smirked and tried to hide it by taking a sip of coffee.

The redhead grinned. "That good, huh?"

"Yeah, I guess it was," the blonde answered cheekily while nudging her foot.

After that, conversation flowed a little more easily. Charlotte was a little too sarcastic at times, a little too haughty at others. Violet knew that Charlotte wasn't known for her conversational skills, or her socializing skills, but at least the blonde was trying and that's all she could really ask for.

Cooper came in and they got quiet again. He kissed her forehead and patted Charlotte's head like a dog. The blonde swatted his hand away and glared at him.

Cooper got himself some coffee, grabbed a bagel and turned to join in on the conversation.

"Hey, why are you guys so quiet?" He paused and then gasped. "You were talking about sex!"

Violet, along with everyone else rolled their eyes.

0oo0oo0

As the week went on her mood only got better. It could be the fact that she was actually dealing with the loss of her baby, or that Charlotte was being the friend that she always wanted her to be or maybe it was the fact that everyone had stopped treating her like she was made of glass. Even Sheldon thought it was safe to approach her.

After the second couples therapy session for that week, Sheldon struck up a conversation with her. She forgot how much fun she had with him. When the last couple had left, Sheldon asked her if she wanted to continue this conversation over coffee and she thought that was a wonderful idea.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte watched Violet laugh at something Sheldon had said and frowned. From the comfort of her transparent office she could see everything they were doing. She knew that the therapist had been interested in Sheldon before all that baby drama, but she thought that Violet would be done with him now that they were…something. She had no idea what they were, but Violet kept insisting that they were friends, friends with some very nice benefits. She guessed this meant Violet could date whoever she wanted, but she really didn't like it.

She watched Violet leave with Sheldon and sighed. This was bad. She would have to do something about this. She wasn't jealous or anything, she just didn't want Violet to be with anyone else. Alright, she was just a little jealous, but only a little.

"You look like you're deep in thought," someone said from the doorway.

She startled and looked over to see Archer. Great.

"Yes, Montgomery and that's where I'd like to remain."

"Or you could tell me what you're thinking about, over drinks."

"No, thank you."

He took a seat in front of her desk. "Come on, Charlotte-."

"It's Dr. King."

"It's the end of the day, end of the week. A drink would do you some good."

"I can't," she said coldly, not even bothering to look at him.

"And why's that?"

"None of your damn business," she snapped.

Archer stood up and began to walk out, but stopped at the doorway.

"If you're involved with someone that doesn't mean you can have a little fun every now and then."

"Seriously, I am this close to firing you," She practically growled. "I am your boss and this is inappropriate."

"Fine, I'll go. Don't think that this is over Charlotte King. I like a challenge." And with that he left.

She was really regretting hiring him right about now.

0oo0oo0

Violet rushed to St. Ambrose as fast as she could. She had gotten a page from Charlotte and although it wasn't a 911, she was still worried. She flew down the halls of the hospital and into Charlotte's office.

"What is it? Did something happen?"

The blonde looked up from her desk and smiled.

"Close the door," Charlotte said huskily.

She did as she was told and walked over to the blonde's side of the desk. Before she got a chance to speak again, the blonde stood and pushed her backward until her back hit the edge of the desk. Charlotte kissed her slowly and languidly. The blonde nibbled on her lower lip. She parted her lips and allowed the blonde entrance. She moaned as Charlotte's tongue brushed deliciously against hers.

She broke the kiss to stare incredulously at the blonde. "I thought there was an emergency."

Charlotte smirked. "There is." The blonde leaned in closer and nipped at the tender skin below her ear. "I'm very, very horny," she whispered in her ear.

"Oh, god." She felt her body flood with arousal.

"Uh huh, horny." Charlotte slipped a hand down her pants and hummed her approval at the wetness she found there. "And apparently so are you."

Violet's knees felt weak and she grabbed at Charlotte's lab coat for support.

"What do you think I should do about it," the blonde said while lazily circling her clit with her fingers.

"Charlotte, please," she said breathily in the blonde's ear.

This seemed to be encouragement enough. The blonde increased her speed before moving on to slip two fingers inside her. She gasped and held on harder to Charlotte. The blonde started off with a nice steady pace, finding a good rhythm that made Violet gasp and squirm. The pace picked up abruptly. Charlotte swallowed her moans in a series of hot wet kisses. God, she was amazing.

"Oh, god, I'm going to…." She came a second after. Charlotte held onto her as she rode out the waves of her orgasm. This was so much better than an emergency.

Once she found that she could stand by herself again she turned them around so that Charlotte was the one with her back against the desk. She was set on returning the favor.

"Get on the desk," She ordered.

Charlotte smirked. "Bossy."

"I really want to go down on you right now. So get on the desk."

Charlotte moaned and got up on her desk. "You are the best friend I ever had."

Violet laughed. "Really," she asked while pushing the blonde's skirt up.

A knock at the door caused them to jump apart.

"Shit," the blonde swore. "Just a minute."

They quickly adjusted their clothes and smoothed down hair. Hopefully, they looked normal and not like they were having dirty office sex.

"Come in," the blonde said.

The door opened and Cooper walked in with Julia in hand. Clearly he was getting ready to head on out for the night.

"I just need to get your signature on this and –oh, hey Violet."

The blonde grabbed the clipboard and quickly scribbled her signature across the page.

"Are you okay?" Cooper asked. The question was directed towards her and she knew that she must still be a little flushed.

"Oh, yeah. I'm fine."

Julia smiled at her. Before the whole baby incident Julia hadn't really liked her much. Julia couldn't understand why Cooper needed to spend so much time with his female best friend. She didn't understand why Cooper always came when Violet called. But since the whole baby thing, Julia had been a lot more sympathetic.

"Here, ya go," the blonde said while thrusting the clipboard back into Cooper's hand.

"So what are you two gals up too?" Julia said.

Violet didn't want to be rude, but she really wanted to continue the dirty office sex they were having.

"Oh, nothing. Just some girl talk," she said dismissively.

"How nice. You know what? The four of us should all go out to dinner sometime. Cooper's friends are my friends too," Julia quipped.

"That sounds great. We should do that." God, she hoped they wouldn't.

She heard Charlotte mumble something that sounded vaguely like a 'yeah.'

"How about next Friday then?"

She glanced at Cooper who merely shrugged before plastering on a big fake smile and saying, "Sure, why not?"

When they left, Charlotte groaned loudly behind her.

"Why did you do that?" The blonde whined.

"Well, I couldn't say no. That would be rude."

Charlotte scoffed. "You're too nice, Violet. Besides I'm not really Cooper's friend, I'm his ex."

"If I'm going so are you. She doesn't like me either. Cooper's girlfriends never like me. I wonder why," she mused.

The blonde snorted. "Seriously?"

"What?"

"You're just the woman Cooper likes to spend all his time with. Do the math."

She could feel her face crinkle up in confusion. "So? He's my best friend."

"You know for someone who's supposed to know about people, you can be pretty clueless. You're gorgeous and they're jealous."

She blushed. "Oh."

The blonde chuckled and placed a hand on her red cheek. "You have no clue how beautiful you are do you?"

"I, uh-." She stuttered.

The blonde leaned in and placed a gentle kiss on her lips.

"Well you are. You're beautiful."


	11. Chapter 11

Charlotte really envied how well Violet could sleep. After two weeks of this friendship or whatever it was Charlotte could describe Violet's sleeping habits perfectly. Violet liked to go to sleep early and get up late. She slept like a baby, all curled up with her hands pillowing her face. She could sleep almost anywhere, at anytime, but particularly when they're watching TV and especially if they're watching something that Charlotte likes. She'd cuddle up with anyone or anything, for that matter. Sometimes Charlotte woke up from one of these little sleepovers (that's what Violet called it when she stayed the night) with Violet's arms wrapped around her tight and refusing to let go. She, unlike the therapist, had a strict early morning routine that she liked to follow. So replaced her body with a pillow and that seemed to do the trick.

Violet always slept well, so it surprised her when the therapist showed up on her doorstep one night. Violet didn't like her house and tried to avoid it as much as possible. The therapist found her house too white and too clean. Sterile, Violet called it. But tonight the therapist was at her house looking at her with the same puppy dog eyes that Cooper used to give her. She wondered if they might be related because, really, the resemblance was uncanny.

"I had a nightmare and Cooper's probably with Julia. Can I sleep over?" Violet asked as she entered the house anyways.

"Was it about the baby," She asked while following the therapist to her bedroom. Violet had told her that in their month apart she had nightmares about losing the baby again and again, but the therapist hadn't had a bad dream since then.

"No. Your pajamas are sexy by the way," Violet teased as she crawled under the covers and settled in.

She made sure that whenever she slept over Violet's house, she had something semi-sexy to sleep in, but at home she wore her old comfortable paisley pajamas.

"Well, I wasn't expectin' company. You want me to change into something else?"

"I didn't say I didn't like them. They're cute. You should wear them at my house."

"Okay." She studied Violet's face carefully. "You wanna tell me about your nightmare?"

"No."

Violet was being rather difficult and she had no clue why. Usually the therapist liked to talk about everything and she did mean everything. They once had a conversation where Violet proceed to tell her why vegetable peelers bothered her. She tried going for a different angle.

"You want me to take my clothes off?"

"No," Violet said again, her voice cracking as she did.

She hated, more than anything, when Violet cried. It broke her heart and she had no clue how to comfort her. And even if she knew how, she probably wouldn't be any good at it. What she was good at was distracting. Sex usually did the trick, but not tonight.

"Do you want to cuddle?"

"No. You should just stay on your side of the bed."

She raised her eyebrow at this. Now this was just truly strange. Violet was a touchy-feely person and always wanted to cuddle or hold her hand or something equally unappealing.

"Did I do something wrong?"

Violet sighed and moved to sit on the edge of the bed. "No, no, you didn't do anything wrong. I'm just messed up right now."

"And you don't want to talk about it," she asked again just to make sure.

"No, I don't want to talk about it or think about it or anything. It happened in college. I should be over it by now or at least stop having these nightmares."

She had no idea what Violet was talking about, but she was vaguely aware that it must have been some kind of traumatic event in her life.

They never really talked about Charlotte's issues. Violet had been her therapist sometime last year and knew all about her problems, like her cheating husband, her drug addiction, her alcoholic mother and her tough controlling father. That was probably the best thing about this "friendship." There just wasn't a need for Charlotte to rehash these things. But she realized Violet, with exception of the recent baby incident, had never talked about her past issues and clearly she had some.

"I'm sorry," Violet continued. "I don' know what I'm doing here. I should just go. I'm sorry, I bothered you."

Charlotte sighed. "No, don't. Come on, let's go downstairs and watch some TV till you're ready to go to sleep."

Once they were settled on the couch downstairs, she put on a documentary. One of the many she had stored on her DVR. Half an hour in, the therapist was fast asleep. Apparently, Violet had no interest in the mating rituals of tropical birds. It was ironic that she really wanted to cuddle with Violet right now when usually she didn't want to. She settled for putting a blanket over the therapist and making her way upstairs back to her own bed.

In the morning she found the couch empty, but there was a note scribbled in the therapist's horrible handwriting on the coffee table.

Char,

One day we'll talk about it. Thanks for being such a good friend.

-Vi

She decided to keep the note and put it between the pages of her first copy of 'To Kill a Mocking Bird' because nobody had called her a good friend before.

0oo0oo0

Violet was fighting with Charlotte again, but it didn't have the same intensity as it used to. They didn't actually hate each other anymore, but Violet kind of liked when they argued. It was both a turn on and an intellectual activity. Currently, they were fighting about whether or not men and women could be friends, which was really just Charlotte being jealous of the time she spent with Cooper.

She was quickly learning that the blonde did not like to share. Violet had lots of friends and the blonde would just have to learn how to deal with it.

Addison walked into Violet's office, obviously fed up with their loud argument. "Do I need to separate you two?"

"No," Charlotte said sullenly and Violet echoed her.

Before the redhead had a chance to tell them to keep it down, the blonde walked out of the room and left the practice.

"Do I even want to know what that was about?"

"It's nothing, just Charlotte being Charlotte. She'll come back after lunch."

The redhead chuckled. "I don't know how you put up with her."

"I know she's a little difficult, a little prickly and bossy, but she's pretty great actually."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah."

Charlotte did come back after lunch and they started another argument over a completely different topic, but Violet didn't mind.

0oo0oo0

Violet heard Charlotte sigh behind her and rolled her eyes at the blonde through her dresser mirror. They were running a little late for dinner with Cooper and Julia, but only a little. She couldn't help it. A bolt of inspiration had hit her and instead of getting ready, she finally finished the composition she had been working on for months.

She hummed her finished composition and started applying her make-up. Charlotte flipped the page of the magazine she was reading loudly. Being late was Charlotte's biggest pet peeve, even if it was just a few minutes late.

"Would you stop grumbling already? I'm almost ready."

"You should have been ready ten minutes ago; instead you were fooling around on your piano."

Violet giggled. "You make it sound so dirty."

The blonde threw the magazine at her.

"Ow. I needed to finish that song soon anyways. I'm thinking of playing it in this Jazz Festival next month." She watched the blonde's expression change from annoyed to impressed. "You play at festivals?"

"Yeah, just a few a year."

"Mind if I come to the next one?"

Violet turned around to smile at the blonde. "I'd really like that."

Violet went into her closet to find a pair of shoes that went with the lilac summer dress she was wearing. She was secretly thrilled that the blonde wanted to come. Her piano playing and these festivals were things she usually liked to keep to herself. Occasionally, Cooper might come to a festival, but other than that no one really knew that she played.

"You know," Charlotte began. "I've only heard you play a couple of times, but you're good, like really good."

"Thanks. I've been playing since I was a kid and I started composing when I was in high school. I even got into Julliard."

"Why didn't you go?"

She walked out of her closet with a pair of sandals in her hand. "My parents thought studying piano was a waste of time. They told me that I should do something useful with my life, so I decided to study psychology just like them."

"Your parents are both shrinks?" Charlotte said with disgust clear on her face.

She chuckled. "Yep."

"No, wonder you're so weird."

"I'm going to ignore that. I'm done, so let's get going."

Charlotte stood and came to stand behind her. The blonde pushed aside the spaghetti strap of her dress and pressed a kiss against her shoulder, the one with the tattoo on it.

"You ever regret not going to Julliard?"

She shrugged her shoulders. "It doesn't really matter. I love being a therapist."

"That's not what I asked, Turner."

"Sometimes."

Charlotte was silent behind her for a few moments. "Would you play something for me when we get home tonight?"

"Of course. And who knows, maybe I'll do something else with my talented fingers."

Charlotte groaned. "We don't have to go."

They did end up going, eventually. Cooper and Julia were already at the table with a bottle of wine for everybody. Cooper stood up and greeted them.

"One day you will show up on time," he whispered in her ear while giving her a hug.

The blonde snorted. "Good luck trying to get that to happen."

"Hey! I can be on time."

"Uh, huh. Sure you can. And you," he said in Charlotte's direction. "Better be on your best behavior."

"I don't think she has a best behavior," Violet quipped.

Before Charlotte could open her mouth and start a fight, Cooper pushed them both over to the table.

Dinner was turning out to be more difficult than she expected. Cooper didn't say too much, instead he let Julia do most of the talking. Violet understood that Cooper was staying back and letting them bond with Julia, but seriously he could at least join in on the conversation and help her out. Julia was being nice, too nice and she wasn't sure if the auburn-haired woman was being entirely sincere. Charlotte was silent beside her choosing to focus on her food instead.

When the blonde finally decided to speak, it was to Cooper.

"Do you want my mushrooms," Charlotte asked while scrunching up her nose in distaste.

"Oh, sure," Cooper answered back happily. The blonde scrapped the mushrooms onto his plate.

This was where dinner took a turn for the worse. Julia frowned at the entire exchange. The auburn-haired woman knew that Charlotte was his ex, but she didn't approve of this familiarity between the two. Julia had tried to be nice to Charlotte because she sounded like a pretty messed up person, but if the blonde was going to throw her past relationship with her boyfriend in her face repeatedly, then Charlotte had another thing coming.

"Cooper just loves his mushrooms," Julia said in an over sweet voice.

Violet cringed as she watched the two share a kiss that wasn't exactly dinner table friendly. She could see Charlotte scowling beside her and reached over to hold the blonde's hand under the table, hoping it would calm her.

0oo0oo0

"So, uh, do you guys want any dessert? I hear the chocolate cake is to die for," Cooper said, trying to dispel the tension at the table.

He was aware of how awkward things were becoming, especially for Charlotte. He knew the blonde was just trying to be nice. They were, after all, trying to be friends. He thought Julia was good when it came to his ex. She had been so sympathetic lately. At least things seemed to be going well with Violet.

He watched Charlotte snark at his girlfriend and sighed. This tentative friendship with Charlotte was definitely going to ruin his sex life. He reached out to pour himself some more wine only knock his fork off the table. He sighed and bent down to pick it up. When he reached out and felt nothing but the ground, he pulled the tablecloth up to see where it had gone.

His eyes widened in surprise at the sight in front of him. They were holding hands. Violet and Charlotte were holding hands. Not in the friendly way, but in the really intimate coupley way, where one would brush their thumb tenderly against the other's hand. No. No, it wasn't possible. There was nothing going on between his best friend and his ex-girlfriend besides friendship. Violet would never violate the bro code like that.

Nope, nothing weird was going on. He was probably just misreading this. He knew from experience that women could be all touchy-feely with their friends. That's probably what this was, but just in case he would keep a close eye on them.

0oo0oo0

"What are you doing tonight?" Charlotte asked her offhandedly.

"The usual," Violet responded. "Hanging out with Cooper, watching cupcake wars."

Charlotte scowled at her, obviously displeased with this answer. "Oh."

"Did you want to do something?" She asked.

"No," replied the blonde stubbornly.

"Cause you can come and hang out with us if you want. I know you and Cooper are on better terms these days."

The blonde paused as if to think and then said, "What time?"

"7ish."

"Fine."

"Don't be mad."

"I'm not. I just want a little alone time with you. That's all."

Violet raised her eyebrow at this. Clearly the blonde had a different idea of what quality time was. "Oh, is that all?"

"Oh, hush. You know you want to do it too."

0oo0oo0

Cooper stared at his best friend incredulously. "So you want all three of us to hang out? That's like an unholy trinity. It's not meant to be."  
Violet rolled her eyes at him. "I already told her she could come. Besides she's been good to me Coop." She was referring to just a few weeks ago when his best friend was in a deep funk.

He sighed. "You're right. What do you guys even do together anyways?"

A funny expression showed on her face followed by a slight blush. Okay, something weird was definitely going on. But his best friend and his ex, together? No, not possible. They just got over hating each other. But something was definitely up. The both of them had been acting weird all week. And Charlotte had been kind of nice lately, which meant that something was definitely wrong. It was now his mission to find out what was going on.

Charlotte arrived as promised and all three of them settled on the couch with Violet in the middle. In the middle of the show, Violet elbowed him and pointed in Charlotte's direction where the blonde had fallen asleep on the couch.

He grinned. "She used to do that all the time when we were dating. She doesn't get much sleep."

"Hmmm, she looks so ...sweet."

Cooper sniggered. Charlotte was anything, but sweet.

Violet slapped him. "Stop that."

Now he really couldn't stop laughing.

"You do know I can hear you two numbskulls," the blonde said in a voice thick with sleep.

"Sorry" Violet apologized. "Go back to sleep." His best friend gently brushed blonde hair out of Charlotte's face and squeezed her shoulder.

Another intimate gesture, he thought.

At the end of the episode a pager went off. He looked down at this and thankfully it was inactive. Charlotte's, however, was very active. The blonde groaned a pushed herself up into a sitting position.

"Hospital emergency," the blonde sighed. "I gotta go."

"Okay, I'll walk you out," Violet said quickly.

Once they were outside he got up and ran to the window. He could see them standing too close together from his spot.

"They're just talking. Nothing weird about that."

Of course, he spoke to soon. A second later Charlotte grabbed Violet by the hips and pulled her in for a kiss. His jaw dropped. He couldn't believe this was actually happening and wow, they were really going at it. He knew that Violet was his best friend and almost like a sister to him, but this was seriously the hottest thing he'd ever seen.

He wasn't worried about getting caught until Violet suddenly turned and looked in his direction like she knew he was watching. His best friend's eyes widened for a second before turning back to the blonde. Thankfully Charlotte didn't look his way at all. Clearly Vi hadn't told her. He backed away from the window and waited for Violet to come back in.


	12. Chapter 12

Violet watched Cooper from the window. His face was a mix of shock and disbelief. She took a calming breath and went back into her house to deal with him.

She raised her hands up as if in surrender and said, "It's not what it looks like."

"Oh, really? Cause it looks like you're making out with my ex-girlfriend."

"Yeah, well, emphasis on 'your ex,'" she spat and then quickly followed it up with an apology. "I don't know where that came from."

She sighed and then went into the living room to flop back on the couch. Cooper sat down beside her and just waited. All she had wanted was a nice relaxing evening with her two best friends. That's all. Now tonight was just going to be one big complicated mess.

"Look," she began again. "All I wanted was for Charlotte to be my friend and now she is." Cooper gave her a pointed look. "You know, with some benefits, really good benefits."

"Friends?" Cooper said disbelievingly. "So just to be clear, you are sleeping with her, right?"

She couldn't help the blush that came to her cheeks. "Yeah."

"So, you didn't tell me about this because you were embarrassed or because you knew you deliberately broke the bro code?"

"I'm not embarrassed," she exclaimed.

"Okay." He didn't look like her believed her.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you. I didn't want you to get mad and I know that's stupid because you would have obviously found out sooner or later. Sorry."

"Fine, apology accepted, but I still reserve the right to be a little mad at you."

"Okay, that's fine. But really Cooper we're just friends so, you don't have to worry or anything."

"Hey, I'm your friend too and I never got any benefits."

"Well, your hair isn't as blonde and pretty and your rack isn't as nice," she said with a mischievous smile on her face.

Cooper chuckled and she knew that they were okay again. "This is true. You know if you really want to make it up to me you could let me watch you two make out."

"Ha, ha. In your dreams."

He sighed. "Be that way. And how does Charlotte feel about being 'friends?'"

"What are you getting at Coop?"

He hesitated for a second. "Remember when I said that Charlotte liked someone?"

"Yeah, I think we were in high school."

Cooper rolled his eyes. "I think the person she likes is you. She cares about you, Vi."

"Well, yeah, she's my friend, but that's all there is too it. Don't make a big deal out of it just because we're sleeping together. It's just casual sex. It's fun."

"If you say so."

0oo0oo0o

Charlotte was furious with Violet. A few minutes ago she had received a text from the therapist saying that Cooper knew about the 'sexual side of their friendship'- Violet's words, not hers- and that Cooper was okay with them being friends with benefits. If she was being honest with herself she would have realized that it wasn't the fact that Cooper had found out about them that made her mad, it was the fact that Violet still thought of them as only friends.

But Charlotte being Charlotte still didn't want to admit to anyone and especially herself that what she felt for Violet was way more than just friendship. She might even lo-. No, she didn't love that curly-haired nuisance. Now that was a ridiculous thought. Completely and utterly ridiculous.

0oo0oo0

Violet hadn't talked to Charlotte since the text she sent last night, but she was almost certain that the blonde was going to be very angry with her. She took a deep breath before knocking on the door to Charlotte's office at Pacific Wellcare. Once she heard the muffled 'come in' she entered cautiously.

"Are you busy?" She asked.

"I'm always busy," the blonde snapped while throwing a scowl in her direction.

She sighed. Of course Charlotte wouldn't make this easy. "He said he wouldn't tell anyone, so you don't have to worry. I don't know why you're so angry. It was nobody's fault that we got caught. It was a mistake. It happens."

The blonde said nothing; didn't even look at her.

"Why are you angry Charlotte?"

"Because you're annoyin' me while I'm tryin' to work," the blonde practically growled.

"Fine. Do you at least want to grab some lunch with me later?"

"No."

"Are you going to come over tonight?"

"Probably not." The blonde tapped furiously away at her keyboard. "I've got to prepare for the Safe Surrender Program meeting with both our practices among other things. I'm probably gonna be busy every night this week."

Usually Violet was a little more sympathetic to Charlotte's insane workload, but right now she was pretty sure that Charlotte was doing this on purpose. If the blonde wanted to be that way, then fine. Whatever. She had other friends. But still…

"Well, if you do want to hang out or get coffee of or something, you know where to find me."

The blonde nodded, not taking her eyes off her computer screen.

She walked out of the room feeling like she was going to cry. That hurt a lot more than it should.

She should be used to this kind of behavior from the blonde. Charlotte was a moody little person. For someone who claimed to be above human emotion, the blonde was a whirlwind of emotions and feelings. It was hard to keep up with sometimes. But lately, with her, Charlotte had been calmer and nicer and she didn't have to worry about Charlotte's anger being directed at her.

Someone called her name just before reached the elevator and she turned around.

"Hey, Sheldon."

He grinned at her. "I was just wondering if you had a minute to talk?"

"Oh, sure. I was just heading up to my office. Is that okay?"

"No, no, that's fine."

Finally, a friend who was low maintenance. Everything was easy with Sheldon. He was perpetually cheerful and always willing to lend an ear. Working with him was great and being friends with him was even better. When she wasn't with Cooper or Charlotte, she was usually with Sheldon and usually laughing. He was always making her laugh.

"So you wanted to talk to me about something," she said when they were finally in the privacy of her office.

"Well," he began. "Things are going well between us again and it seems like you're recovering from….Well, you're doing so much better. I thought maybe you might want to go on that date now?"

A date. God, more than three months had passed since they were supposed to go on that first date. It felt like a lifetime ago, but things were going well between them now, so why shouldn't she say yes? There was Charlotte and all the complicated emotions she felt when she was with her, but the blonde had never said she wanted anything more than the friends with benefits deal they had going on. Plus, right now she was pretty mad at Charlotte.

"That would be great, actually."

"Really?" He said excitedly.

She nodded. He could be pretty adorable sometimes.

"Great. Does Friday work for you?"

"Yeah."

"I'll pick you up at seven then." He grinned at her one last time and then headed back to Pacific Wellcare.

Cooper walked in a second later with a file in hand. "What's up with Sheldon? He's smiling like its Christmas morning."

She laughed. "Well, he asked me out on a date and I said yes. I think that's cause enough."

Cooper frowned. She thought he would be happy for her. He was always telling her that Sheldon was such a great guy and how perfect they were for each other.

"What?" She asked, exasperated when Cooper didn't say anything.

"You're going on a date. What does Charlotte think about this? Have you told her?"

"He just asked me and Charlotte's pissed at me for some reason so, no I haven't told her yet. She won't care anyways."

"So, you're going to go on a date with Sheldon. You might even sleep with him and you don't think this will bother Charlotte. She already hates sharing you as a friend, you think she'll like sharing you as a lover too?"

"That won't be a problem. Once I start sleeping with Sheldon, I'll stop sleeping with Charlotte. She'll be fine."

"Do you even hear yourself?" Cooper said incredulously. "This is going to hurt Charlotte. I know she acts like nothing affects her, but she's fragile, Vi. She likes you and she won't say anything about Sheldon because she doesn't want to lose you. You know how insecure she is about people. She thinks that everyone will leave her eventually. For god's sakes, you were her therapist!"

Violet was seething inside. "Here I thought you were done dating Charlotte. Maybe you should tell Julia that. She's already so suspicious."

Cooper opened his mouth and then closed it. He shook his head and turned to leave. "Tell me when bitchy irrational Violet leaves."

She glanced down at her watch and sighed. It was time for her next appointment. She went out into the lobby and spotted her patient.

"Hello, Katie. I'm ready for you now." Katie smiled at her and rubbed her pregnant belly. Katie had been one of her more volatile patients until they had figured out the right combination of medications for her. But now Katie was pregnant and completely off all of her medication. It was crucial to meet with Katie as much as possible. So far things were going good, but Katie was easily set off and Violet worried.

She led Katie back to her office and began the session. She would have to worry about her problems later.

0oo0oo0

It had been a day since she told Violet she was busy and effectively cut off all communication between the two of them all week. She was regretting that decision and quickly realizing how much she missed Violet. She wished she hadn't been such a bitch yesterday because what she really wanted was to curl up with Violet on the couch, complain about her two jobs and hear Violet tell her how amazing she was to be able to do all that.

She poured coffee into her mug and looked around the lobby of her practice. Nice and busy, just the way she liked it. She took a sip of her coffee and sighed. If she could put coffee into an IV drip and hook it up to herself, she definitely would. A flurry of noise coming out of the elevator that just opened caught her attention. Archer and Sheldon were having a rather loud conversation as they left the elevator and crossed her lobby.

"I can't believe you scored their therapist. Violet is one foxy lady," Archer exclaimed.

"She's pretty great," Sheldon agreed. "We're going out this Friday."

Charlotte frowned. He was going out on a date with Violet? Violet didn't need to go out on a date with Sheldon. If the therapist really wanted to go out, then she could take Violet out herself. Violet didn't need Sheldon at all. What could he do for the therapist that she couldn't? He wasn't even attractive.

What she really wanted to do was beat the crap out of Sheldon. Instead, she settled for yelling.

"Dr. Wallace! I'd like to see you in my office right now."

Once they were in her office she shut the door behind them and whirled around to face him.

"I hear you're goin' on a date with Dr. Turner."

He smiled at her. "Yes, you probably overheard me in the lobby."

"Well then, you're aware of the practice's no fraternization policy and Dr. Turner does work for my practice, which makes her your co-worker. For the sake of the practice I will not allow you to date Dr. Turner. Your couples therapy program is an integral part of Pacific Wellcare and if your working relationship with Violet becomes compromised by a messy break up then we could lose patients, which means that we would lose money. So please notify Dr. Turner about the cancellation of your date as soon as possible."

"You-you can't be serious?" He sputtered.

"Oh, I am very serious Dr. Wallace. Now get out of my office. I have a lot of work to do."

Sheldon left, but Charlotte was still furious. She was going to get back at Violet. This hurt. This hurt a lot because she wanted Violet. She wanted to be with Violet. God, help her she wanted to be her girlfriend. She slid down into her chair. What was wrong with her? Why did she have to care so much? Caring about people, loving them, was the worst. All she ever got from love was hurt.

Whatever. Forget Violet. If that curly-haired nuisance was going to flirt with and date people who weren't her, then she was going to do the same.

0oo0o0

Violet was heading down to see Sheldon. He wanted to talk to her about something and he sounded pretty serious over the phone. She hoped everything was okay with him. The elevator doors opened and Charlotte came into view. She was by the coffee pot and Violet really wanted to go over and talk to her. Maybe clear the air a little. The blonde glared at her and Violet stopped in her tracks. Clearly, Charlotte was still angry with her and call her crazy, but she looked even angrier than before.

While she was frozen in her spot, Archer chose that moment to go up and try and flirt with Charlotte. Usually the blonde would ignore him or tell him to buzz off, but this time she didn't. She watched as Charlotte smiled at Archer and then put a hand on his forearm.

What? What was Charlotte doing? Archer Montgomery was a slimy sleazebag and didn't deserve to even breathe the same air as Charlotte, but here they were flirting right in front of her. The blonde turned in her direction and smirked. She tried to hide her surprise.

Oh, Charlotte was definitely angry and definitely being a capital B bitch. At this moment she wanted to beat the crap out of Archer and drag Charlotte away. It was all very caveman and Violet was surprised at how possessive she was of the blonde.

She turned around and went right back upstairs. She marched into Cooper's office and sat down on his couch. She was still a little mad at him, but she really needed to vent.

He sighed from his desk. "What's wrong?"

"Charlotte. She was being all flirty with Archer and she knows that he's a major sleazebag."

"And you're mad because he's not good enough for her?"

"I'm mad because," she gestured wildly with her hands. "I don't know!"

"Is it because you're jealous?"

"I'm not jealous," she yelled. She took a few quick breaths to try and stave off any tears.

Cooper got up from his desk and kneeled in front of her. "Violet," he said while giving her leg a reassuring squeeze. "Have you ever thought about your feelings for Charlotte? It's more than just friendship for the both of you, isn't it?"

She tried to say no, but found she couldn't and ended up shaking her head no instead.

"Look, I just found out about all of this, so I don't know all the details of whatever is going on between you and Charlotte, but it looks like Charlotte found out you were going on a date with Sheldon and lashed out. She's angry at you because you're going on a date and you're jealous because Charlotte is flirting with someone who isn't you. Now you said it yourself, you're not in a relationship. The two of you are free to see other people, but neither of you wants the other to do that. I don't think this is a friendship anymore."

She pushed his hand off her leg. "No, I'm pretty sure she's just pissed that you found out we were sleeping together and is being a bitch to me."

"Vi." She could see the pity in his eyes.

She focused on a spot on the wall and tried not to cry. "I sleep with women Cooper, but I don't date them. It's what I do. It's just easier that way."


	13. Chapter 13

Violet glared at Charlotte. Things were getting out of hand. They were back to arguing again, granted it was behind closed doors this time, but she was pretty sure that everyone at Oceanside could hear them.

"You told Sheldon that we couldn't date because of some ridiculous policy that you probably just made up. What's your problem Charlotte? Seriously."

The blonde huffed and threw a scowl in her direction. "I don't want you to go on a date with him."

She rolled her eyes. Clearly the blonde didn't understand what friends with benefits meant.

"I'm allowed to date other people Charlotte. You can't tell me what to do."

"I'm your friend!" The blonde paused for a second, as if realizing how weak that sounded. "And yes, I can."

"I don't get why you're sabotaging my date? Are you doing this to hurt me? Is this because you're still mad at me?"

Charlotte remained silent giving her all the answer she needed. She should have realized that Charlotte could never change. She was still Cruella, only looking out for herself. Cooper was wrong. Charlotte didn't like her, she just wanted to hurt her.

She crossed her arms over her chest. "Well, I'm going to go on a date with Sheldon."

"Are you going to fuck him too?" The blonde growled.

"Yeah, I'm going to fuck him too. You need to get over your jealousy."

"If that's the way you want to play this, then fine," Charlotte hissed. "Archer's been flirting with me for a while now. Think I might take him up on that offer for a drink. You know what? I think we're done here. I get it. You're moving on to a new fuck buddy and that's fine. I guess I'll follow your lead and do the same. I hope you have a good time on your date," the blonde said scathingly.

She watched the blonde storm out of her office and slam the door behind her. Right now she felt like breaking something, anything. Fuck buddies? That's not what they were and the blonde knew it.

Whatever, it's over now.

She made her way to the break room where Pete and Addison were talking quietly. Addison quirked an eyebrow at her.

"What was that all about?" The redhead asked. "You guys haven't fought like that in a while."

She grabbed her favorite mug from the cupboard and fiddled with it on the counter. "Yeah, well you won't have to worry about that happening again. We're done. We're not friends anymore."

"No, I'm sure that's not true," Pete said. "You guys have been weirdly inseparable this past month. I'm sure it's just another one of your fights. She'll come back."

Pete gave her a reassuring smile, but the redhead was studying her closely. She tried looking anywhere, but Addison's eyes. The redhead was too perceptive for her own good. She was sure that Addison knew there was more to their fight.

0oo0oo0

Violet was distracted throughout her whole date with Sheldon. He had brought her flowers and taken her to a fancy French restaurant. He had been a perfect gentleman all evening. This should have been the perfect date, but somehow it wasn't. She was still thinking about the fight, still thinking about Charlotte. The easy thing to do would have been to agree with Charlotte and just move on, but she liked Charlotte.

She liked how sweet the blonde was with her. She liked how Charlotte would sit for hours and listen to her play the piano, enraptured. She liked how clumsy the blonde was in the kitchen and she liked how bossy the blonde was at work. All that confidence was just so sexy. She liked their arguments and she liked all the makeup sex that followed. What she really liked was how open Charlotte was with her. The blonde actually talked to her. Told her things about her life that she was sure nobody, not even Cooper, knew.

Oh, god. Cooper was right. So, so right. This was way beyond friendship. Way beyond like even.

"Are you okay, Violet? I asked you a question and you didn't answer," Sheldon said from across the table.

She startled a little and then tried to clear her head of Charlotte. "Yeah, everything's fine. I'm sorry what was your question again?"

Later when Sheldon was dropping her home, he walked her to her door and she knew that he was going to kiss her. She could see him leaning in and she was about to stop him, except he didn't kiss her at all. He hugged her instead.

"Oh," she said aloud.

"If you're interested in someone else you should have said so, Violet."

"I'm not. I'm interested in you Sheldon," she lied.

"No, you're not. You've been distracted the whole evening and I've seen that look on enough people to know that you're in love. So whoever he is you should just go be with him, Violet. Life is short and you should be with the person that makes you happy."

"Uh," she said taken aback. He was probably right. Why couldn't she be with Charlotte? She lived in LA for god's sakes and like Cooper said, no one at the practice would have a problem with her being with another woman. So why did she? "Thanks."

"You're a heck of woman and while I would like for something more to happen being your friend is good enough for me. Good luck Violet."

She smiled at him and kissed him gently on the cheek. "You're a good guy Sheldon."

He shrugged. "I try."

0oo0oo0

Charlotte drained her martini while Archer chatted on incessantly in the background. She really didn't want to be here. She would much rather be with Violet, but that curly-haired nuisance obviously didn't care for her. At least not in the way the she wanted her too. She felt like an idiot thinking that what she had with Violet was real. She had been with women like Violet before, hell she had been one of those women. They were only interested in her inside the bedroom. Anything else was out of the question.

She stood up from their private booth in the upscale bar and lounge Archer had taken her to. She wasn't impressed with all the money he was throwing around. She had her own money to throw around if she wanted to.

"You wanna get out of here?"

He stood too quickly, too eagerly and Charlotte fought the urge to roll her eyes. She ignored him while they were in the car. She just wanted to get this over with so she could finally rid herself of Violet. They went to his house. It was on the beach. It was nice and she told him that much. He grinned at her and tried to offer her a drink.

She said no, grabbed his hand and dragged him upstairs where she assumed his bedroom was. He started to kiss her, tangling his hands in her hair. It didn't feel as good as she wanted it too, but she should have expected that. She stepped back for a moment and unzipped her dress. She let it pool to a floor in a puddle of black silk.

"You wanna take your clothes off already, so we can do this?" She said angrily.

"Uh," Archer said while taking a step back when she stepped forward aggressively. "Are you okay, because you seem a lot more scary and a lot less sexy right now."

"Why are you talking," she snapped. "You're going to get laid so just shut up and enjoy it."

"Okay, stop," he said putting and hand against her sternum and pushing her back gently. "I mean I knew something was off back at the bar, but seriously what's going on? Are you still with this other guy, because I told you I'm okay with that, but if you're going to be such a downer then we don't have to do this."

She glared at him. "Are you asking me to leave?"

"What? No. I would have said leave if I wanted you to leave. It's just that it seems like you would rather be with someone else and forgive me if I want you to actually be with me when you're with me."

"Oh, my god. You are such a girl," she said while putting her dress back on. She grabbed her clutch and headed out the door.

Archer followed her. "Where are you going? I drove you here Charlotte."

"I'll call a cab then," she said from the bottom of the stairs.

Archer raced down the stairs and was suddenly in front of her. "Hey, just slow down, will you. You're crying," he said while brushing a few tears away.

"Crap." She swatted his hand away and when he tried to pull her in for a hug she yelled, "I swear to god, I will fire you if you touch me again."

He put his hands up in surrender. "Sorry. Let me take you home."

She shook her head, no. "I'll call a cab."

"You know what? Let me go grab my sister. She lives next door. She can take you home if you won't let me. I can't send you home in a cab like this. I know I'm not the greatest guy, but I'm not that shitty."

"Fine. God, just go get her. Don't tell her anything. Don't tell anyone anything," she said with desperation creeping into her voice.

"Okay," he said reaching out to her again before stopping and retracting his hand. "Just wait here."

Five minutes later the other Montgomery appeared. Great. Thankfully she had stopped crying, but she was pretty sure she looked liked train wreck.

"Don't say anything," she told the redhead. They got into Addison's car. The ride back to her house was silent. She didn't explain anything and the redhead never asked. Before she could leave the car Addison wrapped a pale hand around her wrist and stopped her.

"It'll work out Charlotte. The thing between you and Violet will work out."

"You don't know what you're talking about."

The redhead's eyes were full of pity. She didn't like that.

"Don't even think about it," she said when Addison started to lean forward. "I do not need nor want a hug. I do not need anyone to coddle me."

"Yeah, well, I don't care. You're hurting and you look like the saddest kicked puppy in the world."

The redhead grabbed her and pulled her in for an unwanted hug. She struggled to get out of Addison's arms, but the redhead was deceptively strong. Eventually, she gave up and just let the other woman hold her.

"I hate you," she managed to spit out.

"No, you don't. You love me because I'm a world class double board certified OB/GYN."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't congratulate yourself too much."

The redhead chuckled and finally let her go.

The rest of the weekend passed slowly for Charlotte. She tried not to think about Violet and her date with Sheldon. It made her furious to think about it. She tried to ignore the fact that that little idiot was probably screwing what should be her girlfriend. How could Violet do that to her? At the very least they had been friends and she was pretty sure that friends, real friends, didn't do that to each other. She didn't think she would ever stop being angry at Violet. Being angry was a lot easier than being heartbroken.

0oo0oo0

Violet had been in Pacific Wellness for a couples therapy session when she heard Archer bragging to some other male doctor in the practice that he had banged their boss. So it was true, Charlotte had slept with Archer Montgomery just to spite her. She should be mad, but she couldn't find it in her to be. She was just sad that what she had with Charlotte was officially over.


	14. Chapter 14

Violet felt like the world's biggest idiot. Life had been going good for her. She had a great job, an amazing best friend and a great relationship with Charlotte, even if she wouldn't admit that that's what it was. And now she only had the great job. She lost Charlotte because of her own stupidity and Cooper was pissed at her for being such a sucky person.

When she came into work the Monday after her "date" with Sheldon, she told Cooper everything that had went down. She told him how she had been distracted the entire time and what she figured out. She explained that she was a coward and didn't want people to know that she liked women just as much as she liked men. She was just afraid of what everybody would think. Of course, now she realized none of that mattered. The only thing that mattered was that Charlotte made her happy, that they had made each other happy and she had to go and ruin it.

So, Cooper was kind of mad at her for intentionally hurting the blonde. She was getting the silent treatment from him and she definitely deserved it. Monday was also the day she had heard the news that Archer had slept with the blonde. And now it was Wednesday and she just felt miserable.

She sighed and poured some more coffee into her mug. She was definitely going to need it today. She added a healthy dose of sugar before adding just a dollop of cream. She took a few grateful sips from her mug and then put it down.

Raised voices could be heard coming from the lobby. She abandoned her coffee to see what was happening.

Speak of the devil, the woman that she had been thinking about all week was standing right there in the lobby, arguing with Pete. She walked over to see if she could help.

"What's going on guys? You're scaring away the patients."

Pete let out a huff of frustration. "She poached one of my patients by telling them I was a quack and that my holistic treatments wouldn't work."

Charlotte rolled her eyes. "Oh, would you quit being such a wuss and give me that file already?"

"You could at least apologize or try acting like a normal human being for once." Pete muttered the last part under his breath.

"Pete," Violet admonished.

"Sorry," Pete said reluctantly.

The blonde ignored him.

"Just give her the file Pete. You're already making a scene."

Pete begrudgingly handed the file over to the blonde. Charlotte flashed him a smug smile before leaving. The blonde didn't acknowledge her, but she knew she deserved that. Pete scowled at her before heading back to his own office. Great. Was everybody mad at her this week?

0oo0oo0

Charlotte was pissed for a number of reasons. First, there was Violet and her refusal to acknowledge that what they have is much more than a friendship. There was also Violet's date with Sheldon, a betrayal in her eyes, and lastly, there was Archer who couldn't keep his big mouth shut.

Apparently the pompous ass had been telling people that they slept together when they clearly hadn't. What's worse was that she explicitly told him not to say anything about that night.

She rounded the corner and strode angrily down the hall towards Archer's office. It was the second biggest one at Pacific Wellcare. She had offered it to him to sweeten the deal when she was desperate for a big name doctor at the practice. She should have stuck him in the supply closet where she would never have to see his annoying face. She entered his office without knocking and glared at the male Montgomery.

Archer's smile fell when he saw the sour mood she was in. "So you've heard the rumors."

"Rumors?" She was not amused. "I heard you telling Dr. Barnhart about your conquest this morning. If you don't tell people the truth, I will tell everyone from this practice to my hospital that you have a dick the size of a tic tac. Understood?"

Archer gulped visibly. "You've got it boss."

"Good. And you better make me a lot of money this month too." She glared at him one more time and then walked out. She smiled once she was out of eyesight. Tearing down a man was always good fun.

She went back to her own office and looked at the big pile of paperwork left to do on her desk. She sighed, but sat down away and picked up the first packet of papers. She tried not to think about Violet as she did her work, but it was hard not to. All she wanted to do was just be with that woman. She missed her. Her heart felt like it was broken. It hurt to see Violet. It especially hurt to see that Violet was doing okay without her.

Love was the worst. If she could, she would never fall in love, but her stupid heart had fallen in love twice in one year already. She had always prided herself on being in control of her emotions, but right now she was in control of nothing.

About half an hour in she decided to push off the paperwork till later. She headed over to St. Ambrose instead, just in time to help with a three car pileup. That kept her busy and distracted. After that she saw a couple of patients and made a couple of referrals. A few of these referrals were for Cooper. She had yet to find a decent pediatrician for her practice, not that she particularly wanted a bunch of rugrats running around her lobby.

She decided to make the trip to Oceanside herself since she was head back in that direction anyway. Maybe if the other Oceanside pansies saw her being semi-nice and giving them patients, they would stop acting so bitchy towards her. Maybe.

She found Cooper in his office when she got to Oceanside. Strangely enough, her relationship with Cooper was the only one that wasn't down the tubes. He had been friendly to her even after Violet went out with Sheldon and they stopped talking to each other or rather when she started to ignore the curly-haired nuisance.

She waved the three referral slips at Cooper and gave him a half hearted smile. "I brought you presents." She sat down in one of the chairs in front of Cooper's desk and stretched out her hand to him.

"You brought me patients," he said while taking the slips from her and grinning. "To what do I owe this pleasure? Are you planning something? The Charlotte I know doesn't give anything away for free."

Charlotte rolled her eyes at him. "I just want to make sure my patients get the best care they can possibly have and since I don't have any pediatricians at my practice, you're the next best thing."

Cooper tucked the slips away in his desk and turned his attention back to her. "If you say so. So, what's been going on with you?"

She focused on a small toy car on Cooper's desk. He had told her once that it was his favorite one from when he was a kid.

"Same as usual. Work, work, work. It's endless."

Cooper seemed o hesitate over what he was about to say next. "How are things with Violet?"

She sucked in a breath and stood. She did not want to have this conversation. Not now, not ever. She could feel tears prick at the back of her eyes. The last thing she wanted to do was cry in front of Cooper. She had to get out of there, but Cooper knew that she was going to bolt. He shot up out of his chair and was between her and the door within a few seconds.

"Charlotte," he said softly. "I know you like her and I know that she upset you by going out with Sheldon. It's okay to be sad."

She scowled at him. "I'm not sad Coop, I'm furious and hurt and…I want to throttle that woman and then kiss her." She let her face fall into her hands. She was on the verge of a breakdown and she really, really did not want that to happen. She just wanted to get through one day without falling apart. That's all.

Cooper was silent for too long and that worried her. She looked up finally to see him with a strange expression on his face.

"Oh my god, you love her," he accused.

"What? No, I don't." How the hell could he tell that just by looking at her once, when Violet couldn't figure it out all? "Don't be ridiculous Cooper."

He was right of course, so incredibly right. She tried not to cry, but Cooper was one of the few people who knew her well enough to see through her. He was looking at her with compassion and sympathy clear on his face. She let him guide her to the couch.

"She…. and Sheldon." She had to stop and take a calming breath. She tried to speak again, but her voice broke and now it was just pointless to hold back the tears. "I do. I love her. Dammit."

Cooper wrapped an arm around her and she buried her face in his nice clean white shirt. It was going to be ruined after this, but he didn't seem to mind. He rubbed her back while she sobbed like a baby.

The door to Cooper's office opened behind them and they both turned to look. Julia stood before them looking like she could breath fire from her mouth. The woman was livid. Charlotte began to back away from Cooper knowing what this scene looked like.

"Julia!" Cooper exclaimed. "It's not what you think. I was just-."

Julia, of course, cut him off. "You little bitch," Julia snarled. "I knew this was going to happen. I knew you were trying get you claws back in him."

Charlotte was speechless. She definitely wasn't expecting anything like this to happen today. Julia grabbed her wrist roughly and tugged her to her feet, away from Cooper.

"We weren't doing anything," she tried to explain.

The door to Cooper's office opened again, but no one paid any attention. Cooper was now standing behind her, trying to talk some sense into Julia. Julia ignored him.

"What were you doing with my boyfriend?"

"Just talkin'. I swear."

0oo0oo0

Violet heard the commotion coming from Cooper's office and went to investigate. Before her was an interesting scene. Julia and Charlotte seemed to be in some sort of argument, most likely because of Julia's jealousy. Cooper was behind them trying to help out, but was staunchly being ignored.

She watched from the doorway, ready to intervene if things got worse. She was liking Julia less and less these days. The woman's jealousy was turning into paranoia.

"What were you doing with my boyfriend?" Julia yelled, her face red with anger.

Charlotte put her hands up in surrender. "Just talkin'. I swear."

"I highly doubt that. I see the way you look at Cooper. You're still in love with him!"

"Okay, you're being ridiculous. You just need to calm down."

"No, I don't think I do. You need to leave Cooper alone."

She could see Charlotte ball her hands up into fists and she moved forward just a little, afraid that the blonde might hit her. She didn't blame her. Right now, Violet wanted to hit Julia.

"Just because you're a jealous bitch and can't trust your boyfriend doesn't mean-."

Charlotte never got to finish that sentence. A resounding crack rang through the air as Julia backhanded Charlotte across the face.

On instinct she rushed forward and grabbed Charlotte away from Julia. She wrapped the blonde up in her protective embrace and tucked Charlotte's head under her chin.

She glared at the auburn-haired woman. "I swear to god, if you touch her again you'll be so sorry. Nothing is going on between her and Cooper because Cooper is very much in love with you. Now get out of here before I decide to take a swing at you."

Julia wisely said nothing and left. Cooper apologized to them and then followed his girlfriend out.

Once they were alone, she buried her face in Charlotte's hair and inhaled the light floral scent of the blonde's shampoo. She felt the blonde hug her back tightly and felt tears well up in her eyes. She should talk to Charlotte, explain things, maybe even fix this.

She let go of Charlotte and took a step back. Charlotte discreetly wiped her eyes and then waited for her to speak.

"So, how are you? We haven't talked in a while." She cringed internally. That was a stupid question and not at all what she really wanted to say.

"No, we haven't and I've been miserable." The blonde crossed her arms and looked away. "And upset. So are you with Sheldon now?"

She shook her head no. "No, I'm not."

"You're not?" The blonde said, surprised.

"Yeah, and that's what I've been trying to tell you all week. You were just too stubborn to listen."

Charlotte rolled her eyes at her. She walked over to Cooper's couch and sat down. The blonde followed suite and sat down next to her.

"I went on that date with Sheldon, but nothing happened. I didn't sleep with him. I didn't even kiss him. I was thinking about you the whole time when I should have been paying attention to him," she confessed.

The beginnings of a smile were starting to form on the blonde's face. "Good, because I didn't sleep with Archer either. Although, he's been puttin' the word out that he has. It's not true. He's just an ass."

"He is," she agreed. She took Charlotte's hand in hers. "I'm sorry I treated you the way I did. I knew you cared about me and I should have been braver. I was afraid of being in a real relationship with you. I ruined everything didn't I?

"And you did a spectacular job at it too," the blonde said dryly.

She smiled at the blonde and shrugged. "It's a talent of mine."

"Just to be clear," Charlotte began. "I was never mad at you because Cooper found out. I was mad because I wanted to be more than friends."

"You wanna be my girlfriend," she teased.

The blonde blushed and she found that to be pretty damn adorable.

Charlotte looked down at her lap. "Yes, I'd like that. I care about you Violet. I'm not good at relationships and I usually try to avoid them at all costs, but it doesn't seem like I can do that with you. Believe me, I've tried. It's funny because I used to hate you, like a lot. You were too cheerful and goofy and you meddled in everyone's business, but now I kind of like all those things about you. And I love you Violet. I tried not to, but I can't. I just can't."

As soon as Violet heard the word love, she froze. Charlotte loved her. That was amazing. Charlotte loved her back. She didn't completely ruin everything. Oh, god, she was actually getting a second chance. Once she was done internally celebrating, she turned back to Charlotte.

Apparently, she had taken too long to think because the blonde looked panicked.

Charlotte stood up abruptly. "Shit, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have said that. You don't love me, do you? I am so stupid and now I'm embarrassed. I'm sorry, I have to… leave."

Charlotte was out the door before she could stop her. She stood up and followed after the blonde. She wasn't stupid enough to squander the second chance she had been given. She should have said something right away. Outside of Cooper's office she could see the blonde hurrying across the lobby and heading to the staircase. She had to do something quick or she was going to lose Charlotte again.

"Charlotte!" She yelled across the practice. "I love you too!"

The blonde stopped in her tracks and turned around slowly. "You do?"

She nodded and then raced to the blonde. She cupped Charlotte's face in her hands and did what she had been wanting to do all week, she kissed the blonde.

Behind them a series of gasps and ohs brought them back to reality. They turned around to see the Oceanside gang minus Cooper in the break room staring at them.

"Oh, god," Charlotte said mortified.

"I'm so sorry. I shouldn't have yelled that so loud. I just didn't want you to go thinking I didn't love you."

Charlotte squeezed her eyes shut and then opened them again. The blonde was clearly uncomfortable with all the attention they were receiving. "Can we talk about this later? They're starin' at us like zoo animals."

"Right, sorry." She leaned in again and gave the blonde a goodbye kiss. Might as well, seeing as how the entire practice knew now. "I love you," she said again, quiet enough so only the blonde could hear her.

Charlotte smiled at her and it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. "I love you too."


	15. Chapter 15

Violet watched Charlotte scurry away before turning back to face the rest of the Oceanside gang. So, she had just confessed her undying love in front all of her co-workers. So what? She felt like she was on top of the world. She knew she should have been concerned about this big secret finally coming out, but she just couldn't find it in herself to care.

She glided over to the break room and calmly poured herself a cup of coffee while everyone else seemed frozen. She added some cream and sugar to her cup before turning around again. Nobody said a word to her, though she knew they were bursting with questions. She sipped her coffee and smiled politely at them. Inside she felt like laughing. If only her co-workers could see their faces.

Finally someone spoke.

"You want to tell us what all that was about," Naomi finally asked.

"Yeah, could you please tell us what's going on? I mean that's…" Dell trailed off.

"Charlotte King," Sam said, picking up where Dell left off. "That's the Tiger. You've been calling her Cruella for like the last four years."

Then everyone started talking at once. She let them go on for a couple of minutes before she set down her coffee and whistled loudly enough to get everyone's attention.

"So," she said, once all eyes were on her. "I guess you noticed me and Charlotte in the lobby."

"And your declarations of undying love," Addison added in dryly.

She chuckled at that and nodded shyly. "Yeah, that too. So, I'm not going to tell you everything because, frankly, it's none of your business, but here's the cliff notes version. Charlotte's been a really good friend to me, this recent fighting aside, and we've discovered that we have a lot in common and that we really care for each other." She paused for a second to collect her thoughts. "So yeah, we're going to start dating now, officially. I'd appreciate it if none of you teased Charlotte about this or bugged her for information. You know, you probably just shouldn't talk to her at all. I don't want anybody getting hurt."

Dell nodded in agreement and Addison bit back a smile at the last statement.

"Anyways," she continued. "I'd really appreciate it if you just kept this to yourselves for now. I don't need everybody from here to St. Ambrose gossiping about this. Thanks."

Of course, as soon as she stopped talking, they all started with their questions again. She rolled her eyes and sipped at her coffee. She was done explaining herself. She didn't really care what they thought about her and Charlotte. She was done caring what everyone thought and it was great. It was…freeing.

During the middle of all this commotion Cooper walked back in, sans Julia.

"What s going on here? Did I miss something?" Cooper said while looking at her.

"You missed Violet yelling, for the whole world to hear, that she loves Charlotte and apparently they've started dating," Addison said while passing a bewildered Cooper. "I've got a patient."

Violet looked pointedly at the rest of her co-workers and soon they were all making excuses about patients and paperwork. When it was just her and Cooper left, she let out sigh of relief.

She smiled and shrugged. "Uh, well… they all know about me and Charlotte now."

He moved forward to give her hug and then held her at arm's length to study her face. When he was confident that she wasn't just silently freaking out, he let her go with a pat on the back.

"So I missed a lot in the ten minutes I was gone. You and Charlotte are in love and I broke up with Julia."

She put a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Sorry, to hear that."

He chuckled. "You didn't even like her and truthfully, it hasn't really been going that well between us these last few weeks. She gets a little jealous."

Violet snorted. "A little. She's a crazy green-eyed monster and she hit my girlfriend."

Cooper grinned at her like the Cheshire cat.

"What," she said while slapping his shoulder playfully.

"You called her your girlfriend," he teased.

She rolled her eyes. "Oh, grow up."

He shrugged. "What? It's cute."

"I know. Charlotte probably hates that. Do you wanna come over tonight? We can watched Chopped and eat ice cream. I know you really liked her Cooper. It was good until the last couple of weeks right?"

He sighed. "I wish she hadn't turned out to be such a jealous maniac. If it's not too much trouble, I'd like to come over and brood over another failed relationship."

Violet leaned in to hug him. "You're my best friend. It's never any trouble."

0oo0oo0

Violet placed a bowl of popcorn on the coffee table alongside the ice cream and bowls of toppings. Everything was perfect for this little break-up pity party. She and Cooper always did this after every breakup they went through. Lots of Food Network and plenty of unhealthy snacks. Okay, that's pretty much what they do every time they get together, plus the addition of ice cream.

Charlotte was pouting on the couch, watching her assemble the buffet of junk food for tonight. The blonde huffed loudly to get her attention and she rolled her eyes. She knew that Charlotte needed a lot of attention, but tonight the blonde was just going to have to learn to share.

"Did you really have to do this tonight?" The blonde said unhappily. "We exchange I love you's today and Cooper's comin' over when you should be upstairs having sex with your hot girlfriend."

With her back turned away from the blonde, she smiled a private smile. "We just did that, Charlotte."

She turned around to see that the blonde was looking rather alluring on that couch all by herself. Charlotte caught her look and smirked.

"We could be having more," Charlotte said in a tone that was low and seductive.

Violet shivered. She moved forward when she knew she should be getting the cans of soda out from the fridge and completing the junk food buffet.

"We do have ten more minutes before he gets here," she reasoned while sitting down next to the blonde.

The blonde traced a few nonsensical shapes on her thigh distracting her completely. She never could get any work done when Charlotte was around. Yet, somehow it didn't matter.

Charlotte smirked. "I think we could accomplish something during that time."

She felt the stirrings of desire and decided to throw caution into the wind, at least for ten minutes anyway. She pushed Charlotte back onto the couch and placed a line of kisses up the blonde's neck before capturing her lips. Charlotte's hand slipped under her shirt and caressed her back. A leg slipped between her thighs and pressed deliciously against her center. She moaned her appreciation and felt the blonde smile against her lips.

"Whoa," a voice said above them.

Violet popped her head up immediately to see Cooper staring wide-eyed and slack-jawed behind the couch. Apparently he had gotten a show.

"Please tell me that's not Cooper," Charlotte said beneath her. The blonde didn't even bother getting up.

"Uh, sorry," Cooper said sheepishly.

She was a little pissed that he had ruined the moment. "Cooper, could you please grab the soda from the fridge?"

He nodded and made his way to the kitchen wordlessly. Violet quickly got off the blonde and readjusted her shirt. Charlotte smoothed down her hair and gave her an irritated look. Yeah, she wasn't winning any awards with Charlotte tonight. She knew that she probably should have done something special with the blonde tonight, something more than this, but she was always good at destroying her own relationships. She couldn't think like that. This was different. Charlotte was different and besides, she couldn't just toss her friends aside for someone she was dating, especially not her best friend. But seriously there had to be a better way to be there for the both of them.

By the time Cooper came back she was already sitting in the middle of the couch with Charlotte on her left. Cooper put the sodas on the coffee table and hesitantly took a seat on her right while glancing at Charlotte. Clearly, Cooper was expecting some sort of backlash from the blonde.

Charlotte looked at him pointedly and let out a huff of annoyance. "I'm not going to bite your head off Cooper, at least not this time. You're lucky you just broke up with your girlfriend. Next time don't just stand there like a pervert."

Cooper had the decency to look guilty. "Sorry."

"If you're really sorry, you could just leave," the blonde said sweetly.

"Charlotte!" She admonished.

Charlotte flashed her a fake smile. "I was only kiddin'."

No she wasn't.

Violet grabbed the remote and turned the TV on and put an arm around Charlotte. She could do that now that the blonde was her girlfriend. She grinned goofily and looked over in time to see Charlotte's soft smile and knowing eyes.

0oo0oo0

Charlotte was filling out some of her never ending paperwork when she felt another presence in the office. She looked up to see Archer Montgomery grinning at her.

"What?" she said with irritation coloring her voice.

"Just wanted to congratulate you on the hot girlfriend."

Charlotte dropped the pen she had been holding. "What did you just say?"

Archer backed up a little, afraid that the blonde might actually get up and punch him.

"Jeez, calm down. I heard my sister talking about you and Violet with Naomi the other night. Relax, news of the new hot lesbian couple isn't going around the rumor mill."

Charlotte relaxed slightly. The last thing she needed was for everyone to be talking about her, well them. Violet was already sensitive about her sexuality, she didn't need any nosy people spooking her.

"But," Archer added.

"But what?" She practically growled.

"I did tell Sheldon. The guy deserves to know and he wouldn't tell anyone. He's a good guy."

Well that and he was terrified of Charlotte.

"Fine. Anything else?" She said, growing impatient.

"Seriously though, nice work," Archer complimented.

"Out!" She shouted, while pointing violently at the door.

Archer gave her a thumbs up before getting the hell out of her office.

0oo0oo0

Sheldon was waiting by Violet's office door when she came back from her lunch break. Violet smiled at him and ushered him into her office. She placed an armful of files and texts onto her desk and turned around to see Sheldon pacing.

"Are you okay?" she asked, concerned. Sheldon wasn't really a pacer.

He stopped his pacing and sat down on her office couch. "No, not really. I know I said, go be with the man that you love, but when I said that I didn't know that I was driving you into the arms of Charlotte. Violet that woman used to be awful to you."

She crossed her office to join him on the couch. She was surprised that he knew she was dating Charlotte, but she did kind of yell it across the practice earlier this week.

"First of all. Things change. People change. You and I both believe that all people have the ability to do so. And it's not like I planned for this to happen. I'm not doing this to hurt you, Sheldon."

He sighed. "I know that Vi. I just worry about you. Charlotte is mean and grouchy all the time. She yells at everyone and she comes with a lot of baggage. Are you sure she's good enough for you?"

She knew he meant well, but it didn't stop that flare of anger from rising up. "I know all that already and I really don't care." She looked at him and in a much softer voice said, "I love her. Faults and all. Besides, I'm no picnic either. I've got my own set of baggage."

He was silent for a moment, as if considering what she had said and then finally, he nodded.

Sheldon stood up to leave. "If you're sure. Just be careful, Violet."

She nodded. "Hey, how do you know about me and Charlotte anyways?" She asked before he could get out the door.

"Uh, Archer told me, but don't worry no one else in our practice knows."

0oo0oo0

Charlotte smiled from her position on couch as she watched Violet play her piano. Lovely fingers stroked ivory keys. Watching the therapist play was always captivating. She sipped at her hot cocoa and pulled the blanket further up her lap. It was mid-November and the night was a little chilly. A week had passed since Charlotte had confessed her love and she was already reaping the benefits of being the therapist's girlfriend.

Being Violet's girlfriend meant many things. It meant cute nicknames that she didn't appreciate (well, sometimes she didn't mind when Violet called her sweetheart), cuddling on the couch, more smiles aimed her way and private piano lessons.

Violet doted on her. The therapist made her special meals and packed her lunches with sickeningly sweet little notes in them. But there were also the foot rubs after a hard day of work and the way Violet was interested in everything she had to say, even if she was talking about hospital policy. Sometimes Violet made her feel as if she were the only person in the world.

Charlotte wasn't used to this amount of attention and adoration and it scared her. It made her want to run, but she was smart enough to realize when she had a good thing going. She had a woman who knew all her faults, but loved her anyways. Besides, this is what she wanted, to have Violet all to herself.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" Violet asked her, when she was finally done playing.

"Nothin' much," She said while suddenly becoming interested in her cocoa. "Just you." It still embarrassed her to be so sappy and sentimental. She had become so used to masking her emotions that finally letting everything out was a challenge.

Violet removed the mug from her hands and placed it on the coffee table. The therapist slipped under the blanket to lie on top of her.

"So sweet," Violet murmured to her before placing a soft kiss on her lips.

She rolled her eyes. "Uh huh, I'm very sweet." She pulled Violet even closer to her so she could kiss her properly.

A phone rang, interrupting their moment and Violet reached down to pull her cell phone out of her pocket. The therapist put the phone up to her ear without even checking caller ID.

"Hello. This is Dr. Turner."

Charlotte watched as Violet sat up suddenly and stiffened. Distress was clear on the therapist's face.

"Okay. Sure. Bye." Violet hung up after uttering those three words.

Charlotte reached up take Violet's hand in her own.

"Hey. What's wrong?" She said softly.

Violet smiled at her and shook her head. "Oh, nothing. My parents are coming to visit next weekend."

She tried to coax more information out of the therapist, but with little success. She didn't know much about Violet's parents only that Violet didn't get along with them. She knew very few details about the people who raised Violet. Among them was the fact that they told their own daughter that her dream of studying Piano was stupid. She was pretty sure she wasn't going to like them.


End file.
